Forever Falling
by Unjax
Summary: Teams RWBY and JNPR are in their fourth year at Beacon, learning, growing and enjoying their time. However, when Torchwick breaks out of prison, foes that the two teams had thought long gone come back to haunt them. As they face a threat unlike any Remnant has seen before, the teams will struggle to survive while fighting to save a world that becomes more and more dangerous.
1. At Long Last

_Cages are so boring._

Roman rapped his fingers against his favorite prison cell. He knocked on the solid metal that had housed him for the past nine hundred and ten days. About two and a half years. He had kept careful track of each day, counting down, day after day, until finally, it was today. Today was a good day.

The cell he was in was, in fact, his favorite cell. He had been shipped around from prison to prison over the years before he had settled down at Vale's primary correctional facility. It was cozy, cedar blocks with rebar concrete behind it and a solid metal grid across the front. It was really not bad for a prison cell, but Roman had always been more of an outdoorsy guy. Well, so long as outdoorsy was out the doors of a prison, anyhow. Mountains, fresh air and never showering weren't really his thing either.

There was a small window in the upper corner of the cell, and Roman could see the stars and moon rising. He grinned to himself excitedly, and walked over to his cot. On top of it rested his fedora, which had been with him for the past few years. He picked it up off his cot and brushed off some imaginary lint. Though his white suit had faded to grey over his stay at his lush home, he had made sure that his hat had never suffered the normal tarnishes of the polished prison life.

When it came down to it, it had been two and a half year. He wanted to make at least some part of this reunion professional, and nothing was better than a hat. After all, Roman Torchwick was nothing if not professional. He had wasted years of his precious life for this job, but all of that was about to pay off.

A flicker of movement caught his eye by the window. Roman walked to the opposite side of the room and looked outside. There was a small styrofoam bowl with three small scoops of ice cream in it, one chocolate, one vanilla and one strawberry. There was a little sampler spoon tucked under one scoop, and out of the chocolate there was a small pink umbrella sticking up.

Roman grinned, picking up the bowl and putting a spoonful of the strawberry ice cream in his mouth. He took delight in the sweet, fruity taste for a moment before walking back to his bed. He flopped onto the hard mattress, laying down. Oh, he was _so_ excited.

Roman lay on his back with his feet crossed, enjoying small bites of ice cream. After only a few minutes, he heard muffled grunts from down the hall, and paused mid-bite. He sat up on his bed, laying the ice-cream down on the floor. He picked his hat up once more, brushed it off one final time, then placed it on his head for the first time in nine hundred and ten days.

He had to admit, he felt a bit more stylish.

The sounds from down the hall had grown silent, and Roman turned towards the cell door, the gridded metal bars. Behind those devilish slats of steel stood the soundest of sights for sore eyes.

A petite figurine she was, standing somewhere on the short end of the five foot five club. Her hair was parted in the middle, one half cascading over her shoulder in soft, elegant brown curls, the other falling in curly strands of light pink. Her eyes, one pink and one brown at the moment, met his evenly despite their disparity of height. She wore a light long tailed coat, one might say of a vanilla coloring, and a brown velvet corset that hugged her slim figure tightly. Around her neck was a collection of silver necklaces, and she wore brown slacks that came down to just below her knees. She had on high heeled boots, and Roman knew that they were practical as well as stylish.

He was glad she hadn't skimped on the style in the last little while. It was important for one's pupils to follow in the footsteps of their mentors.

"Neo, if you would." Roman said, tilting his head towards the lock of his cell. She could have it open in a heartbeat, and then he would be free to roam the streets once more. How devilishly delectably delightful.

However, she didn't obey immediately. A flash of irritation shot through the thief as he looked back at her, before it lifted in humor. She had crossed her arms in front of her chest and cocked her hips, that arrogant and joking grin spreading across her features. Roman sighed in exasperation, but couldn't help the coy grin from appearing on his features. He leaned forward, resting on the grid.

"Ah yes, of course. It's been a while, Neo, pleasure to see you." She raised an eyebrow at him and didn't move. Roman bowed his head in defeat. He looked at the ground then spoke. "Fine, I've missed you too Neo."

No later had the words left his mouth that roman heard a faint click. He pushed himself off the metal bars as they swung to the side. He looked at the line in the dust where the door to his prison had been for so long and hesitated before stepping through.

He looked at that line, feigning remorse. It was all about the theatrics; the long awaited escape from prison. The prisoner, wondering whether life on the outside would really be any better for him. What if it had all changed to him? Was he ready to deal with it all?

There was an impatient tapping of a boot, and Roman looked back to see Neo glaring at him, unimpressed. He grinned and stepped over the line without even looking at it, wrapping one arm around his cohort as the two started walking through the prison again. Of course he was ready to be free, but he might as well make a show of it. There might as well be some theatrical payoff for so long spent holed up in a cell.

"Oh, how I've missed this Neo." He said, his voice partly sarcastic and partially genuine. At times, he wasn't even sure which was the real sentiment. "We're going to have a lot of fun in the coming months."

Neo's only response was to skip a step ahead of him and turn around, looking at him mischievously. She tilted her head to the side, and Roman saw the door she was motioning towards. He stepped towards it and opened it from the inside, pressing himself against it so that Neo could pass through.

"Ladies first," He said cheerily as he stepped out behind her into the cool, fresh air of the night. He walked under a streetlamp and then passed into the shadows. All of the sudden, Roman felt very at home, very comfortable. He was happy, contented, and there was one more thing. He was feeling ready for a little revenge.

He grinned as Neo tossed him his cane, which had been resting at the entrance to an alleyway. He spun it about his hand, then walked off into the darkness beside Neo.

**So this is just the first chapter of what I'm hoping to be a new fic if I can get it rolling! I'm still finishing up my other story, so until that's done, the updates here won't be very regular. This story will take place in the students' fourth year at Beacon and my own take on the conclusion of the Cinder arc of the RWBY story. I hope you enjoyed it! This chapter, being an introduction, was pretty short. Most of the chapters for this story should come in ~3000-4000 words, but it will be determined more so by the flow of the story than a set word count. Of course, any comments, thoughts, concerns or tips are very welcome! Thanks for reading! **

**-Unjax**


	2. Guess Who's Back?

"This is going to be so much fun!" Came the high pitched squeal from Ruby.

"Oh yeah!" Yang chimed in, excited.

"This is going to be uh-_maze_-ing!" Nora sang excitedly.

"Yeah, it'll be nice." Jaune agreed quietly, a smile on his face.

He looked around at all his friends nodding and smiling. They had been selected for a co-op mission, and they were all excited. Team's RWBY and JNPR had become good friends, but had never gone out together on an official mission. Unofficial missions, sure, but never with the authority of Beacon.

They sat around one of the tables in the cafeteria, everyone buzzing with an excited energy. Jaune scooped some food off the platters onto his plate. He had noticed that as he got better at fighting and in better shape, he needed to eat a lot more to fuel himself. It had been three and a bit years since he had arrived at Beacon, and he probably ate close to three and a bit times as much now.

Beside him, Pyrrha laughed melodiously as she saw her leader go for another large turkey leg. Jaune shot her an angry look, but it was halfhearted. Though Pyrrha was still in better shape than him, she somehow managed to survive on a normal amount of food. She had hypothesized that his appetite had something to do with his large aura reserves, but Jaune wasn't convinced. Yang's fat jokes didn't help either.

"When do we leave?" Blake asked, ever the reasonable one.

"Ozzy said it'll be a weekend mission, so we've got a few days to get ready." Ruby said, still practically sparking with excitement.

"Hey, do you guys think we should invite Emerald and Mercury?" Jaune asked, the thought suddenly cutting into his mind. The duo had remained at Beacon after the Vytal Festival, along with a few others like Sun and Neptune, and though they didn't have a full team, they worked well enough together to make up for the missing two bodies. They had become friends with team RWBY and team JNPR over the years, and the ten of them had partaken in a fair amount of shenaniganry together.

"Nah," Yang said, "I talked to them the other day. They said they were meeting up with some old friends this weekend. They'll be busy anyways."

"Who'll be busy?" Came the ever sarcastic sound of Mercury's voice from over Jaune's shoulder. He slid into the bench beside Jaune, and Emerald sat down on the other side of the table.

"It seems like all of us now." Jaune replied.

"Cool, what are you guys doing?" Emerald asked with a smile on her face.

"Joint mission. We'll be going to Forever Fall. Apparently there's been a lot of Grimm activity in there lately."

"More than usual?" Mercury asked in his cocky tone.

"So it would seem." Blake said, monotonously, still reading that notebook of hers. Jaune had always been curious about what that was in that black, leather bound book, but he shrugged it off. He hadn't managed to find out in the past three and a half years, it would simply have to remain a mystery indefinitely.

"And who are these friends of yours that we don't know?" Nora asked, her voice wobbling a little. Over the years, Jaune thought she was the one who had changed the least. Sure, she had gotten better at fighting, but other than that Nora was pretty much still... Well, Nora.

"Just some old flames you could say." Emerald said with a twist to her lips, as though something about what she said was funny and only she knew why.

"Alright, keep your secrets." Yang said in mock suspicion.

"Maybe we should get going." Pyrrha said in her lilting voice. "Class starts in a few minutes."

"What?" Mercury exclaimed. "But we just got here!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't spend most of your lunch hour disappearing off to who knows where to do who knows what." Weiss reprimanded. The two teams stood, leaving Mercury and Emerald fuming at the table, picking away at their lunches. Yang laughed as they walked away.

The day was pretty ordinary as far as days could be when you were the leader of a team with Nora on it. For the most part, Ren dealt with the excitable girl's antics for the rest of the day though, so it wasn't too hard on Jaune. Nothing exciting happened in class, and Jaune was relieved when the final bell rang. He walked out of the class alongside Pyrrha, the two of them heading up to the roof for the daily bout of sparring.

Jaune squared off against his partner, taking his stance across from her. Pyrrha crouched down, holding Milos up at shoulder height facing him and Akuo between the two of them. Jaune held his shield in front of him, keeping his sword low but ready by his side. He looked into his partner's eyes to find her own bright green eyes staring back at him.

Their eyes stayed locked as they slowly circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. After what seemed like an eternity, Jaune noticed Pyrrha step slightly more forward than sideways and he tensed himself. Pyrrha exploded into motion, blurring towards Jaune. Only from countless hours practicing against that same opponent was Jaune able to raise his shield in time to meet the deadly strike that was heading straight for his neck.

He stepped into the swing, forcing Pyrrha back and building momentum, transferring it into a quick swipe of his blade. Pyrrha easily blocked it, and came back with a low strike towards Jaune's legs. Jaune dove to the side and rolled back to his feet in a split second, eyes locked once again on his Mystralian partner.

This time it was him that struck first.

He came in with a low feint, swinging it back up high at the last possible moment. Pyrrha anticipated his move though, and caught his blade on her own. Akuo flashed out towards Jaune's chest, and he was forced to spin away from Pyrrha to avoid the blow. As he came about, he found Milos already flying towards him. Instinctively, Jaune tensed his aura. It congealed in front of him, making a solid pane that the javelin bounced off of. Taking advantage of Pyrrha no longer having a primary weapon, Jaune lunged forward. He collided with Pyrrha's shield, shoving her backwards. While she was off balance, he swept at her legs trying to trip her.

His mistake was thinking Pyrrha Nikos could ever be off balance. As he swung low, Pyrrha bounded off her one leg and twisted over him. Jaune felt Akuo hit his back hard, and though his aura absorbed most of the impact, he had to take a step forward before whipping around. As he turned, he saw Pyrrha stand from picking Milos up.

_Great,_ he thought, _She has her spear back._

Pyrrha twirled the spear around her wrist, and when she caught it back in her hand, it was a sword. Jaune eyed it fearfully. He was pretty sure he had gotten more bruises from that sword than anyone had been injured by any object in the history of Remnant. He had done the research at one point. He was pretty convinced that he held a record there.

Jaune didn't wait for Pyrrha to make a move. He charged her, but she was charging him right back. When he was a split second away from her, Jaune dropped to the ground and slid. He had lined it up so his shoe would collide with her ankle, but at the same time that he started dropping Pyrrha left the ground. Jaune raised his shield as Pyrrha flipped over him, blocking her upside down swing. He dug his right foot into the ground, using his momentum to stand up. He kept his eyes on Pyrrha as he stood, watching her land and twist seamlessly, striking out towards his chest.

Jaune managed to deflect the blow with his shield, but only barely. She swung with her shield, and Jaune had to swing his sword into it with all his might to stop its momentum. The two consecutive defenses left him on his heels though, and before he could react, Pyrrha dropped low and hooked her leg behind his foot. She straightened her leg as she stood again, and Jaune's leg came up. He fell onto his back hard, and Pyrrha followed him down, pressing Milos to his throat.

Jaune didn't move. He was panting hard, and he could feel the cold metal of Pyrrha's blade scraping his throat ever so gently. He could feel her body pressed against his own, his face growing hot, and some part of his mind registered how intimate this position would be if there wasn't a sword against his throat.

A peal of melodious laughter broke the tense silence as Pyrrha got up smoothly, reaching down to offer Jaune a hand. He accepted it gratefully, letting her pull him to his feet.

"That was excellent Jaune!" She said, joy radiating through her smile. "I think that's the best you've ever moved. I wasn't sure I could win for a moment." Jaune listened to the rise and fall of her voice, enjoying the smooth flow of her musical tones.

"Yeah, too bad no one can beat you though." Jaune said jokingly. "Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl!" He proclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. He knew that such flattery made Pyrrha uncomfortable, though she would accept it graciously. She smiled at him thinly, and Jaune laughed.

The two returned to the dorms,walking beside one another in comfortable silence. Jaune would have talked, but he was thinking about the weekend. He would have to talk to Ruby at some point, figure out what the game plan was. They were going to be going up against a lot of Grimm, and he wouldn't mind having a few joint training sessions with team RWBY. They were both strong teams, and they had done a lot of work together, but this was going to be a bit different than the discreet missions they had gone on before. Jaune and Pyrrha rounded the corner to find that RWBY's door was ajar.

"I can't believe it," Jaune heard Weiss whisper. Everyone else was silent. Jaune looked over at Pyrrha, then the two walked up to the door and knocked on the wooden frame, peering into the room.

Weiss, Yang and Ruby were sitting across from each other on team RWBY's ridiculous bunk beds, looking solemnly at their scrolls. Blake was leaning against the window sill, the window thrown wide open. The breeze was toying with the faunus' hair, making a few ink black curls tickle across her neck. Jaune couldn't see her face, but her fists were clenched so hard that a small trickle of blood glided down her fingers.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, quietly. Instead of answering, Ruby tossed him her scroll. Jaune caught it deftly, remembering a time when he would have fumbled with the device to catch it, if he would catch it at all. Jaune looked down at the screen, reading the text therein. His stomach slowly dropped as he read, and he passed the scroll to Pyrrha. She took it from him without question, and the room grew silent for a moment before Ruby spoke.

"He's back."

/

"You have to let us go after him!" Blake said forcefully, barely able to stop herself from screaming at the headmaster. How could he not understand? Roman Torchwick, the man who had been responsible for threatening the safety of the very kingdom, had escaped from jail, and Ozpin wasn't going to let them hunt him down.

"Please sir," Ruby grabbed Blake's arm forcefully, but gently, pulling her back from the headmaster's desk. "We know him better than any other hunters out there. We stand the best chance of finding him and bringing him back to justice." The silver haired man studied the four of them closely, hands clasped under his chin.

When they had found out that Roman Torchwick had escaped from prison, they had been shocked, outraged and outright angry, but they had all thought they would be able to find him and put him right back in that cell. Blake knew how dangerous the man was first hand, and she couldn't imagine anyone would let him walk free.

"Ladies, please do calm down. I-"

A sharp rap on the heavy oak door interrupted the headmaster. The door opened, and Jaune stepped out from behind it, his team following suit. Everyone was quiet and respectful, but Blake could see the tenseness of their posture. They were all on edge. JNPR walked towards Ozpin's desk, forming a semi circle on either side of team RWBY. Blake looked at them in confusion, then turned back to the headmaster. He must have called them up for whatever reason.

"Um, hi." Ruby said to the new arrivals, but it came out as more of a question than a greeting.

"Sir," Jaune began, leaning over and planting his hands on the headmaster's desk. "I don't think we should go after him, not yet."

Blake looked at him in shock. Jaune hadn't been really involved the first time Roman was captured, but since then he had learned everything that team RWBY had been through. She couldn't help but feel betrayed by him, like he had thrown the past few years out the window.

"How can you say that?" She said, feeling her voice rise in anger. "He's one of the most notorious criminals that Vale has ever seen. He almost destroyed the city last time, we need to stop him before he has the chance to plan anything."

"Blake," Jaune said, his voice steely and calm. "How do you think he broke out? Roman was never the mastermind behind the whole plan. Whoever broke him out must have something planned, and last time he got locked up it just delayed their plans. Something big is happening, and we need to find out what it is. Keeping Roman out of jail is the best way to do it, and given your history with him, we know we can stop him when it comes to the end of it."

"We need to run against the devil we know." Ozpin added, nodding slightly.

Blake felt rage boiling inside of her. They couldn't possibly be saying what she was hearing. Yes, they knew Roman, which is exactly why they should lock him up until he wasted away. An unknown enemy was better than one that she knew could cause havoc and mayhem on a massive scale.

"We've seen what Torchwick can do, how can you say we should just let him go?"

"Blake, we all want to go after him as much as you," Ruby said, her voice rather soft. "But he wasn't working alone last time. Maybe we should follow him to whoever is running this whole thing, before they act without us knowing."

Blake looked at her leader, feeling nothing but hurt. Of everybody there, she had expected Ruby to be on her side. The younger girl was the only other one to have similar experiences with Torchwick as her, and she was sure that her team leader would understand what she was saying. Yet, the small redhead seemed perfectly content to agree with Ozpin and Jaune, knowing how much Torchwick could hurt the kingdom. She looked over at her partner, Yang, for support, but the blonde just lowered her eyes. It felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She was infuriated, how could they just let him go? She whipped around and stormed out of the room, throwing the heavy oak doors open behind her.

"Blake!" She heard someone call from behind her, but the roaring of her pulse in her ears drowned it out and no one else called for her.

She walked into the elevator, fuming and hurt. Roman Torchwick had been a bigger threat than anyone had realized except for her. She had been right last time to convince her team to go after him, and if they hadn't, hundreds of people could have died when that train crashed through Vale's city wall. That was the sort of danger Torchwick posed to the city, and they were planning on just letting him do it? They were wrong. They should lock Torchwick up right away and then find out who had broken him out of jail. She pulled her scroll out of her pocket, quickly finding a number and dialing it.

"Hey, can we meet up?" She said softly, and of course, was met with an affirmative answer. She walked out of the elevator and stepped out into the large hall that served as a lobby to Ozpin's office. She walked through it rapidly, crossing her arms in front of her body. She was trying not to think about how betrayed she felt. She exited the building, walking down the large circular steps. There were a few trees scattered around the twisting roads sprawling out from the central tower of Beacon, and Blake walked through them until she reached the statue. She had never been able to like that statue, given how there was a deliberate lack of faunus representation in the huntsmen.

"What's got ya down?" Came the upbeat voice that had grown so familiar to Blake over the years. She looked over to see Sun leaning back with one heel kicked up against the statue, arms crossed in front of his chest. He was wearing his traditional worn jeans, but he was wearing a deep purple v-neck today rather than his usual white collared T-shirt that he seemed to have issues buttoning up. Not that she had ever minded him not doing them up.

Rather than answering him, as she didn't trust her voice right now, she just pulled up the article that Ruby had showed them earlier on her scroll and tossed it to him. He caught it deftly flipping it around so it was the right way up. He read a few lines and then stopped, looking up.

"Well we have to go after him, right?" He said, a ghost of a grin flashing across his face.

"Just us two?" She said deadpan.

"I'm sure your team's itching to get going too, I'll get Neptune and it'll be just like old times right?"

"My team isn't going." Blake responded flatly. Sun looked at her, cocking an eyebrow, eyes alight playfully.

"So... You're coming to me because you know that you can pull me into tagging along with you just about anywhere?" Blake couldn't help but smile a little at that.

"I'm coming to you because we need to stop Torchwick before he does anything. I think you understand that as well as I do."

"And your team? Look Blake, you know I'll go with you if you insist, but it's a suicide mission. We don't know who he's with, or how many baddies he's got with him. He's spent years locked up in a cage, and he's probably itching for you guys to come after you. He'll want revenge, and if you and I go alone, it'll make his day. Look, you've got an away mission this weekend right? Keep an eye out while you're out there, and I'll see what I can find out from the Vale police department. I think Neptune's and my training officer when we were junior detectives might be willing to help out."

As he talked, Blake felt her mind whirring. He was right, of course they couldn't go after Roman together, just the two of them. Not even if they dragged Neptune along, they just didn't know enough. Ozpin wasn't right to let him go completely, but she would need her team when it came time to stop him. She doubted she'd find anything while out that weekend, but Sun might. They could deal with that when they got back.

She looked up at Sun, studying his dusty blond hair and his muscular form. Before she knew what was happening, he leaned forward and hugged her. She tensed briefly, before feeling herself relax into his embrace. She breathed in deeply, catching his slightly tropical smell.

"Look, I know it's hard not going after him right away, but we'll get our chance. No one's going to let him stay up for long, he's done too much. We'll catch him again, and we'll find whoever put him up to everything he did." Blake didn't answer, but rested her cheek on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. After a moment she pulled away, still a little uncomfortable with such close proximity to anyone. A habit she was still working on breaking from all the distrust she had built up before Beacon.

"Come on, let's go to the library. Maybe we can find some information there."

"What? No cult meetings this time around?" He mocked, winking at her and flashing a devilish grin. Blake glared at him, actively having to stop her ears from twitching in irritation. She walked away without a word, letting him jog to catch up. "Yeesh, and I thought Weiss was the Ice Queen of the bunch."

"You just made a cult joke, and your first attempt to save face is calling me 'Ice Queen'?" She said, the slightest hint of a laugh in her voice.

"Not the smartest move?"

"No, not quite." She said, smiling. She realized she had stopped moving while they bantered, and started off again. "Now are we going to do some research or not?"

"Oh, yeah, right behind you."

/

"Blake!" Yang called out, moving to take a step after her partner, worry clenching her stomach in a knot. Before she could move though, Weiss grabbed her arm.

"Let her go, you know how she is. She needs to blow off some steam before she can be sensible."

Yang watched the elevator door slide shut, Blake's back still towards her. She tore her eyes away, looking back at the headmaster, guilt and worry clawing at her insides.

"So we don't go after Roman?" Ruby said, getting the conversation back on track.

"No, Miss Rose," Ozpin replied, sounding ever so slightly distracted. "We'll try to figure out as much as we can about what he's done, what he's doing and what he will do, and then before he makes a move we'll stop him. Until then though, we need to use him to get to whoever is orchestrating this whole operation. I fear that this is larger than Vale or Beacon, and that Torchwick is merely the start."

"So what about this weekend?" Jaune said, looking at the two teams. "I don't think we should go after him quite yet, but it doesn't feel right to do nothing about Roman."

"You will go to Forever Fall. Remember, you are still training to be huntsmen and huntresses. Your job is to protect the people, and as great a danger as Torchwick is, the Grimm are still mankind's greatest threat. The scouting reports show a large number of Grimm have congregated in the forest." Yang listened, a question forming in the back of her mind.

"Why two teams though? And two of the top teams nonetheless." She asked, trying to figure it out. "We're all seniors here, and normally we'd send one team at most. Maybe even just two partners."

"Something's happened, hasn't it?" Jaune asked, his eyes glinting slightly. Yang looked at him, still in silent awe of how far he had come. Seriously, he was _vomit boy_, how heroic could he ever be? But Jaune had surprised her, all of them, with how much he had developed. He was now physically fit, a strong fighter, and more importantly, when it came to strategy, he was an unparalleled genius. Pyrrha had been right when she called him a natural leader. Yang wouldn't let him know though, consistently reminding him of his first day at Beacon.

"Yes," Ozpin said gravely. He took a sip of coffee before continuing. "Three huntsmen went into the forest to try to clean up the Grimm, but none of them have returned. That was a week ago. Your numbers are a safety precaution."

"We won't let you down, sir." Ruby said confidently. Though she was still two years younger, Yang felt her chest swell a little in pride. At nineteen, Ruby was one of the most talented huntresses and leaders in the school, and she was going to be graduating at the end of the year. Something no one had done before at her age.

"Very well, be on your way then. Thank you, Ruby and Jaune."

**Ah, the first new chapter of a new story! Well, second technically, but the first was really a prologue. So this should be about the average length of a chapter, I'm liking the ~4000 word chapters. I'll have the next few chapters up pretty quickly, but after that I can't make any promises as to release times. I aim to release one every 1-2 weeks, but my schedule for the new year has really picked up, so it might tend towards one and a half weeks. I'm pretty excited for this story though, and I already have all the main plot points picked out. This story will have kind of a dark undertone as it progresses, but I'm hoping to make sure that it stays well written. In that spirit, if you ever have any suggestions or ideas on the writing style or choices I've made, please let me know! I hope to learn as I continue to write this story, so I'll never be upset about constructive criticism! Thanks for taking the time to read the chapter, and I hope you'll read the rest to come! **

**-Unjax**


	3. Welcome To Forever Fall

Wind whipped by Weiss' face, pushing her neatly done ponytail around over her shoulder. Beside her, the rest of her team was being hit by a similar gust, and everyone except Ruby's hair was being tousled. Yang seemed particularly annoyed, constantly trying to pat down her hair, and Weiss rolled her eyes at boisterous blonde. Weiss looked down at the ground rushing by beneath them, spotting the occasional dark silhouettes of Grimm. They were flying overtop of the forest of Forever Fall, and the sight would have been beautiful and peaceful were it not marred by the knowledge that, at the moment, it was one of the most densely populated regions of Vale by Grimm. Weiss let go of the strap attached to the open door of the hover jet and moved back inside, taking a seat across from Pyrrha. The redhead was sitting next to her team leader, Jaune, while Ren was actively trying to block Nora from going anywhere near the open side door of the jet.

They were being dropped deep inside the forest in the hopes that the Grimm near the fringes, where many small villages were, would chase them into the woods. They were going to be let down thirty miles from some ancient ruins that had once served as a scouting outpost before being overrun. Professor Oobleck had been more than willing to give them a full rundown of why that was the only reasonable place for them to be extracted, as no other area in Forever Fall is defensible enough to land a hover jet. They had a week to get from the landing zone to the outpost where they would be extracted. That meant covering about four miles a day, and Weiss was beginning to regret wearing her high heeled boots. It wasn't really that far, but she could feel the ache in her feet already. She would have to talk to Ruby and find out if there were any combat boots in Vale that were a little more... Appealing than her team leader's.

"Are you ready Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, snapping Weiss from her revery. She had always enjoyed the redhead's company. Since both of them had shared the burdens of fame, Weiss had always felt a vague sort of kinship with Pyrrha.

"Of course I-" Weiss stopped herself, realizing that she was dropping back into her habitual 'snooty' voice as Yang had dubbed it. "Yes, I'm fully prepared, thank you. And yourself?"

"I'm ready, though I'm a little worried about Blake." Pyrrha's green eyes darted towards the raven haired faunus looking out at the mountains lining the horizon. Pyrrha turned her attention back to Weiss, and the white haired woman nodded.

"Same. With eight of us, I'm sure not much can go wrong, but she's been on edge since we talked to Ozpin."

"Maybe killing some Grimm will do her some good." Jaune said, cutting into the conversation. "Blow off some steam, y'know?"

Weiss didn't bother answering him.

They flew for another half an hour until Ruby called for everyone to come have a look. Weiss stood and walked over to where the other short member of team RWBY was standing, pointing out of the open side door. A ways in the distance she could make out the vague outline of a large hill, atop which stood a few large pillars and crumbled walls. The place was definitely old and run down, but Weiss could tell that once upon a time it must have been an awing structure. Oobleck had informed her, while the rest of her team listened with glazed eyes, that despite the fact that it was relatively small and in an area completely surrounded by Grimm, that it had lasted half a century before being overrun.

Inside the hover jet, Jaune knocked on the window that separated the pilot from the two teams, and the jet slowed until it was stopped a hundred feet or so above the forest. The eight students lined up behind one another, ready to jump out. Ruby was first, followed by Yang and Blake. Weiss was behind the dark haired faunus, and behind her team JNPR had lined up in the same order as their in their team name. Ruby crouched low, but before she jumped she paused.

"Hey, what's that?"

In the distance, Weiss could just barely make out a small dark dot moving against the clear blue sky. It was too far away to make out any distinctive features, but whatever it was was definitely large.

"Nevermore?" She suggested, and behind her Jaune broke off from the line.

"Go ahead Ruby." He called.

The hooded girl nodded at Jaune then jumped out of the jet. Yang followed, leaping off the plane with a bit too much enthusiasm for Weiss' liking, and Blake followed behind her partner. Weiss hopped gingerly off the plane, making sure that her moves were precise and graceful. She fell through the air, and felt it rush by on her face. She felt the adrenaline pump through her veins in response to the free fall, and smiled slightly.

_What are you _doing_? _She reprimanded herself. She had definitely been spending too much time with Yang. She was actually enjoying herself, plummeting towards her death. Weiss closed her eyes and let herself fall for a moment, allowing herself to break free of her composed image for a brief instant. She _was_ falling quite quickly though, so after only a moment her eyes shot open again. She raised a hand in front of her and summoned a glyph, the white snowflake symbol surrounded by a circle glowing in front of her at a steep angle. She extended a leg and landed on it, absorbing the impact as she raised her hand and several more glyphs flared up in front of her. She bounded off the first one, but Weiss felt herself coming off faster than she had expected. She leapt back and forth between the glyphs in front of her, but as she came off the last one just above the ground, she was still going too fast. That moment in the air where she had allowed herself to relax had given her too much velocity.

She raised her hand and a black glyph appeared on the ground. She landed on it, and felt herself pulled into the ground by the glyph. It slowed her, as she had intended, but she was still moving quickly. She leapt forward and twisted, landing on her hand while moving backwards. She did a few more handsprings until she had slowed down enough to come to a complete and graceful stop, her toes pointing at the exact point where she had originally landed. Weiss smirked to herself a little, knowing she had adjusted perfectly to the situation. Beside her there was a loud crash, and dirt sprayed all over Weiss' white clothes, undoubtedly staining them.

"What are you _doing_?" The heiress exclaimed, looking down at her spoiled garments. "I have to wear these clothes for the next _seven_ days you preposterous dunce!"

"Ease off it Weiss, a little dirt never hurt anyone." Yang said, smiling and removing her sunglasses. Weiss couldn't figure out where Yang had even _got_ sunglasses.

"_Hmph!_" Weiss exclaimed, but she saw Ruby walking towards the clearing.

"Thanks Yang!" The younger girl called.

"What are you thanking her for? Letting every Grimm on this half of Vale know we're here?" Weiss said, absolutely flabbergasted.

"No," Blake said, walking in from between two bushes. "So that we all know where to meet."

"Yep!" Yang exclaimed from behind her, wrapping an arm around the heiress. "I'm doing this all for your own good."

"Well I think that the dirt was unnecessary." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Weiss?" Yang asked.

"What?"

"Snooty voice." Weiss rolled her eyes, but smiled a little.

There was some shuffling in the bushes, and team RWBY turned to see Jaune's team walk into the clearing. Nora was skipping alongside everyone else, and they all seemed unharmed. Weiss looked around, searching for the hill that housed the extraction point. She saw it off in the distance and grimaced. It was going to be a long walk.

"We should get mo-"

"Whoa, Weiss, looking a bit worse for wear there." Jaune cut her off grinning at her, and Weiss rounded on him, anger surging through her.

"I'm going to freeze him." She said, dead serious, looking straight into Jaune's sky blue eyes, her hand going for her rapier.

"Whoa there Weiss, come on." Ruby said, tugging her partner's arm back. The heiress sighed and relinquished her hold on Myrtenaster. "Let's just get going, we need to find someplace safe to sleep for the night."

The party moved off, heading towards the hill way out in the distance. Weiss allowed herself to be caught up in the beauty of the forest. The soft, velvety rosy petals fell all around her, some occasionally alighting on her skin or tickling her face as the wind blew them past her. She had only been to Forever Fall a few times, but every time that she came she was astounded by how beautiful it was. She had considered asking Neptune if he wanted to go with her to visit it once, but it seemed far too forward seeming as they weren't dating and Weiss was still somewhat timid around him. Nonetheless, Weiss had to admit that the forest seemed like a very romantic place.

Off to the right, she heard a low, menacing growl and the slight rustling of bushes. On her left a branch snapped, and Weiss' head whipped towards the sound. The Grimm definitely took away from the romantic value of the forest though. Ahead of her, Pyrrha and Jaune readied their swords and shields. Behind, she could hear Yang's gauntlets clicking into place and Ruby's scythe clanking as it extended. Then she heard a high pitched squeal of excitement.

"Keep it down Nora." Jaune said from in front of her.

All around them, the growling grew in volume. Weiss reached her hand down to her hip and drew Myrtenaster. She held her sword levelly, turning to the side as the two teams formed a circle. In the shadows of the woods, she could see a set of bright, red, glowing eyes. She locked her eyes on them as they slowly approached, and a large Beowolf stepped out of the shadows. In the corner of her eye, Weiss saw several more of the lumbering creatures step into the light, perhaps two dozen in all. Hardly a challenge. Weiss put her foot forward, and readied herself, crouching slightly. All she needed was Ruby's word.

"Go!" She heard Ruby and Jaune call at the same time.

Weiss lunged forward, ducking under a sweep from the large Beowolf. She brought her rapier up and cut across the creature's torso, then summoned a glyph behind it. She leapt from its side to the glyph and used it to propel herself towards the creature's back. She held her sword forward, impaling the Beowolf right through the spine, killing it instantly. There was a howl to her right, and two more of the Grimm charged her. One brought a massive claw down towards her, and Weiss brought her sword up to catch the blow, angling the blade down to deflect the blow. She had never been strong enough to block direct blows, but she had learned at a young age that blocking was just deflecting with bravado. She dodged to the side as the other monster snapped its jaws at where she had just been. She whirled Myrtenaster and waited for her chamber to click into place before slashing out at the Beowolf that had just lunged at her. A crescent of fire flew forth and blasted the Grimm backwards. She twirled around and brought her elbow back, about to bury it in the chest of the second creature, but just before she struck, a sword cleaved the Beowolf in two. The two halves fell to either side to reveal Jaune, who gave her a quick nod. He put on a nervous smile though as she didn't lower her sword, and Weiss studied him for a moment. Then she brought her sword down into the ground, and spikes of ice shot out of the dirt until they hit Jaune, ensnaring his feet.

"Oh, come _on_!" He exclaimed, obviously not too pleased.

"Um, what?" Yang asked.

"I told you I would freeze him." Weiss smiled a little, pleased with her joke. She walked forward and tapped Jaune's feet with Myrtenaster, letting out just enough fire dust to thaw the ice. She didn't really have anything against Jaune anymore. The blond had grown into quite a respectable young man during his time at Beacon once he had stopped his irritating attempts to ask her out. The two were actually quite good friends now, and she knew he wouldn't mind the joke.

"We really need to work on your sense of humor, Ice Queen." Yang said from behind her, but Jaune chuckled.

"I'm trying, and that's something isn't it?" Weiss said, a little disheartened that no one had appreciated her joke.

"Guess I deserved that one." Jaune said chuckling a bit, and Pyrrha came up from behind him to see if he was alright. He assured her he was so, and everyone dusted themselves off and started towards their destination once more. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful other than a few minor Grimm encounters. Nora and Yang started to play a game, seeing who could give themselves a bigger handicap and still beat a Grimm.

"You can't be serious." Weiss said, unbelieving as Yang tied a strip of cloth around her eyes.

"Oh yes I can! If I can kill a Grimm without even looking, I totally have Nora beat. There's no way to one up blindness."

Weiss shook her head and decided not to get involved. As it turns out, Nora did try to one up Yang after that, by tying her arms behind her back. After Nora got thrown into a tree by an Ursa, Jaune officially called the competition off. Yang took that to mean that she had won, and then Ren had to spend the next half hour consoling his partner.

They covered more terrain than they expected that day, and as the sun set they started to hunt for a place to make a camp. They came across a small rocky overhang, and set up a small fire pit. Blake made a quick lean-to, a skill left over from when she pretty much lived in the wilderness, and everyone set up their rolls and sleeping bags under the simple structure. They decided to have two people take watch at any given time so no one fell asleep on duty, and Weiss volunteered to take the first watch for team RWBY. Pyrrha took the first watch as well, and the two set up a log next to the fire pit, stoking it every once in a while to keep the flames going. Weiss noticed her friend glancing towards the lean-to every few seconds, and she could guess where the redhead was looking.

"Is everything okay, Pyrrha?" Her friend looked up, her bright green eyes opening in surprise.

"Yes, everything's fine." Weiss looked at the redhead dubiously. It was no secret that Pyrrha had had her eyes on Jaune since they had come to Beacon, and yet she had never openly said a word about it to him. Weiss didn't want to press though, so she let the topic drop.

"What do you think is drawing all the Grimm to Forever Fall? They've never congregated here like this before." Weiss asked instead, steering the conversation away from something so personal. Weiss could guess that Pyrrha hadn't had many romantic involvements before, so the whole fiasco with Jaune had to be treated carefully. Though Weiss wished the knuckle headed blond could just put two and two together already.

"I have no idea. It's odd though, and dangerous."

"Do you think it has anything to do with Torchwick?" Weiss pondered aloud. It was strange that the two events were taking place so close together, but she couldn't think of a reason as to why they would be related.

"I don't think so, or at least it wouldn't make sense. There's no real way of controlling the Grimm. They do as they please, and we're just here to stop them."

Weiss nodded in agreement, and they continued to talk deep into the night. She looked up into the sky as the moon reached its zenith and her eyelids were growing heavy. She had always been curious about the moon and how it had come to be shattered like that. She wondered what it would have been like before it was broken into a thousand pieces scattered across the sky. Some days it was full of course, but Weiss remembered reading that the moon would have probably gone in cycles before being shattered. She shook her head hard. Such trivial hypothetical questions had no place in the real world. Her father had made sure to drill that lesson securely into her head as a child. Her hand drifted to her cheek, tracing the thin silver scar that ran from just above her eyes to mid-cheek. Her hand froze as she realized what she was doing, and she quickly moved it away.

"Why don't we rouse the next two watchers?" Weiss suggested, partly to draw attention away from what she had just done and partially because she knew Pyrrha was growing tired. The other girl nodded in agreement.

Weiss made her way over to where her teammates were sleeping and shook Blake's shoulder slightly. The faunus jerked awake, eyes fully alert and her hand drawing Gambol Shroud faster than Weiss could react. Realization dawned in the raven haired girl's eyes though, and she re-sheathed her blade.

"Sorry, Weiss," She said, and Weiss shrugged.

"It's alright, old habits die hard, I know. But Pyrrha and I are both falling asleep on our feet. It's your turn to keep watch."

"Alright," Blake rolled out of her makeshift bed, which was pretty much just moss on top of her travel mat. Weiss took her place next to Blake's bed, and looked over to see Jaune walking out of the other side of the lean-to, rubbing his eyes to rid them of sleep. Weiss wasn't surprised that Pyrrha had chosen to wake him. She smiled slightly, then laid her head down on the mat, and she could feel sleep pulling at her conscience.

"Weiss, you awake?" She was yanked from the brink of unconsciousness by the sound of Yang's voice.

"I am now, thank you very much for that." She said, letting the irritation color her voice.

"Do you think Blake's okay?" Weiss heard Yang's sleeping bag shuffle, and opened her eyes to see that the blonde had rolled over to look at Jaune and Blake, chatting idly by the fire. Jaune was sharpening his blade, and Blake had her notebook tucked neatly beside her. Weiss looked at Yang, who looked back at her. Her lilac eyes were filled with worry, and Weiss softened a bit at seeing the normally zealous and energetic huntress in training look so concerned.

"I don't know. That thing with Torchwick really got to her. It's almost like we're back in first year again, and I'm worried that she's going to burn herself out." Weiss answered finally.

"I know, and I'm worried. What if she does something to try and stop him? I'm not sure there's much she wouldn't do if it meant getting him locked up."

"Maybe Sun can help keep her controlled." Weiss suggested. Yang was silent for a moment.

"Yeah, Sun probably can." Yang's voice was hollow, and Weiss looked at her with concern. Before she could ask what was wrong though, Yang rolled over again. "Goodnight Weiss, we should probably get some sleep."

Weiss looked at Yang's back, but decided to let her be. Partially because she was so tired she thought she could sleep through a rampaging ursa. Weiss made a mental note to talk to Yang later, then pulled up her warm sleeping bed. Despite the discomfort of the forest, she was asleep in moments.

/

"Hover jet!"

Weiss was immediately on full alert as she woke up. She could feel the ground under her body tremble slightly at slight intervals, and leapt up. She grabbed Myrtenaster and looked around. Ruby and Ren were both already packing up the camp as quickly as they could. Everyone else was scrambling out of their beds, and Weiss quickly rolled up her sleeping bag and travel mat. She threw them into her bag and slung it across her back, dashing up beside her leader. She looked at Ruby, who nodded towards the sky. Above them was a standard issue jet streaking by above them. Behind it trailed a small cloud of...

"Is that dust?" Weiss asked as the jet roared by above them.

"Looks like i-"

Behind them came a massive crashing sound. Weiss looked above the tree tops and saw the source of the commotion. A massive Grimm was storming towards them. It didn't seem to have noticed them, but was rampaging blindly straight towards them.

"We need to move." Ren said, and everyone rushed to pack up. Once everyone had their knapsacks donned, the group ran for the forest edge. As they reached the edge of the clearing surrounding the rocky outcrop that they had camped under, Weiss ducked under a large juniper bush. The rest of the party followed suit, hiding where they could as the vibrations in the ground grew more and more powerful.

There was a loud cracking sound and a few trees fell onto their makeshift camp. There was another stomp and the beast's leg came into view. The tallest tree came about halfway up its thick leg, and Weiss looked in awe at the creature. She had seen large Grimm before, but this one was on a completely different level. It could easily fit a house on it's back, and those tusks looked like they could obliterate a stone wall. The Goliath thundered by, and the two teams waited until it's massive stamping receded into the distance.

"What is it doing here?" Weiss exclaimed as she walked out of the bush.

"Which one? The plane or the Goliath?" Yang asked, dusting a slight layer of dirt off her skirt.

"Both I suppose." Weiss replied, her mind racing.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, turning towards JNPR's leader. Weiss looked at him as well. Though she still had the best grades of the group at Beacon, she couldn't deny that Jaune could be quite perceptive. Especially when it came to battle or strategy, the blond was almost unparalleled. Weiss had made the mistake of playing him in chess once, and had quickly regretted it. Jaune was looking at where the Goliath had come from, studying the trees closely. In the distance, Weiss heard a few howls from Beowolves.

"We need to leave, now." He said.

"Why? That thing's gone now." Yang said, scratching her head.

"The Goliath was following that plane. I don't know how, but somehow that plane got a Grimm to follow it. If it got one to follow it-" Weiss heard the roar of an Ursa, much closer than the howl of the Beowolf.

"Then there's probably more close behind." Ruby finished.

"Time we left." Ren said, nodding in acknowledgement to the leader.

"Wait, but that jet was on it's way to the scouting outpost." Weiss said.

"We need to take a detour. We should loop around to avoid that Grimm." Blake said, and no one argued.

The eight of them started racing away from the clearing that they had camped at. Weiss could feel her heart beating as her legs pounded against the ground. Beside her ran Pyrrha, who seemed unfazed by the physical exertion. Ruby was in a similar state, and Weiss had to work hard to keep up with the two. Before long, her legs were burning, and the sounds of the Grimm receded behind them. Before long the group slowed and then stopped. Weiss did her best to not show it, but she was out of breath.

"Okay, what is going on here?" She demanded to no one in particular. Everyone looked at each other in confusion, and no one had an answer.

**/**

**Next chapter out pretty soon as promised! So for the first few chapters, the perspective is probably going to jump around quite a bit just so that I can show how all the characters have developed over the past three years. After that, I'll be writing from the perspective of however makes sense in a given chapter, but that will probably settle into a few main characters. Other than that, I'm pretty excited for this story! There's going to be one more setting chapter before we hit the real jumping off point, but after that it should be pretty continuous actions until the end of the story! I'll release one more chapter tomorrow then it might slow down to a more normal pace. As per usual, any comments, criticism, suggestions or ideas are always welcome! Thanks for reading!**

**-Unjax**


	4. The Calm Before the Storm

"Pyrrha and I will take first watch." Jaune stated, and Pyrrha looked at her leader, surprised. She wasn't opposed to the idea, in fact if she was going to keep watch she would prefer it be with Jaune, but over the past four days the convention had been that one member of each team would take watch.

"You okay with that Pyrrha?" Ruby said, looking at her. Pyrrha didn't miss the deep weariness in those silver eyes. "I can take first watch if you want." The younger girl offered.

"I'm more than happy to take the watch." Pyrrha replied with a soft smile. Everyone else seemed too tired to keep first watch, including Jaune who had heavy shadows under his eyes

The past four days since they had come to Forever Fall had been incredibly arduous. They had run into so many Grimm packs that Pyrrha had lost count, and because of the incident with the Goliath, they now had almost twice the distance to cover. They were heading towards their destination in a large loop, and between the frequent battles, long treks and sparse food, the whole group was beginning to fatigue. Being in peak physical shape meant that they weren't affected as badly as they could have been, but nonetheless she could feel the effects of their labour wearing her down.

She looked towards the makeshift lean-to as team RWBY flopped onto their sleeping pads, not bothering to get into their sleeping bags. Ren helped Nora get settled, before himself sliding into bed for the night. Pyrrha looked at Nora with a bit of worry. She had never seen the energetic girl look so downtrodden, and it did not bode well that even the normally uncontainable girl was so tired.

"Sorry about putting you on the spot like that, Pyrrha." Jaune said from behind her, crouching down to sit next to the fire.

"It's fine Jaune, everyone really needs their rest." She walked over to sit next to him, holding her hands up to let the warmth of the fire seep into her weary limbs.

"Yeah, they really do. I also wanted to talk to you." Pyrrha looked at her partner and leader, seeing the dark expression on his face. Jaune was just as tired as the others, but he seemed to be carrying another burden on his shoulders.

"What is it?"

"I've just been thinking about what's happening here. I don't think seeing that jet was a coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

"The reports on Forever Fall have been showing an increasing trend in Grimm activity. Something's drawing them here, and I think it has to do with the dust that was floating out of that plane. I don't know why or how, but I think someone is drawing the Grimm here. Someone wants to gather them."

"Why would anybody want to do that?" Pyrrha asked, her mind working to try and understand. She had never heard of anybody being able to corral the Grimm, or even wanting to.

"I don't know, but whatever's happening here isn't normal. I think something bad is going to happen, and I think it's got something to do with that old scouting outpost. That plane was flying towards it, and I think that's where all the Grimm are headed."

"And that's where we have to go." Jaune nodded at her in affirmation.

"I'm just worried about all of us. Look at them." Jaune nodded towards where their party was sleeping. "They're all so tired, if we run into something we're not prepared for at that outpost, I don't know what will happen." Pyrrha nodded in agreement. The encounters they had had with the Grimm so far had all been relatively small and easy enough to deal with that, even as the group had fatigued, there was no real danger. If someone had managed to draw the Grimm to the outpost, there could be hundreds of the beasts there. Worse was the possibility that there was a rogue group in the outpost. If that were true, then they might have to fight some other trained huntsmen or huntresses who had not spent the past week trekking through Grimm infested forest. From team RWBY's descriptions of their encounters with Torchwick, that was not something they were up to doing in their current state.

"What should we do?" She asked Jaune, understanding his worry. "We have to get to the outpost to meet up with the dust plane."

"I'm still working on that." He said, his lanky blonde hair falling in front of his face. Pyrrha was overcome with compassion at the troubled look on his face, and reached up and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"There are seven other people here Jaune, we'll think of something. It's not all on you." He looked at her and smiled.

"Thanks Pyrrha." He studied her for a moment, and Pyrrha had to fight not to let her face flush at his intense study of her features. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine," Pyrrha said removing her hand from his shoulder. It wasn't the whole truth, but she was doing well enough given the circumstances. Not to mention she didn't want to further burden Jaune with trivial troubles such as her well being.

"Come on Pyrrha, what's wrong?" Jaune laid his hand on top of hers, and Pyrrha felt an electric spark shoot through her body. She looked into Jaune's eyes, studying the deep, sky blue coloring of them. She had looked into them countless times before, and every time was met with the same dilemma. She felt her hurt flutter as he stroked her hand gently to comfort her, and Pyrrha lowered her eyes. How could she tell him the way she felt when she knew he wouldn't feel the same. She didn't want to trouble him with having to deal with the way she felt, especially not out here.

"It's nothing," She answered. It was a white lie, to shield him from the troubles that her affection would give him. It was better off that he didn't know. Beside her Jaune sighed.

"It's not, but if you don't want to talk about it that's okay." She didn't miss the note of hurt in his voice though. "We've been partners for the past three and a half years Pyrrha, you know you can tell me something if you need to."

Pyrrha looked back up to meet Jaune's eyes. She searched them, looking for something more, but just found the compassion and friendship that had been there for so long. It hurt her more than she would ever admit, and she looked away. There were some things that she couldn't tell him. When he had first arrived, Jaune had relentlessly pursued Weiss. Once he had given up his crush on her, Pyrrha had hoped that maybe she would be the recipient of some similar advances, but it had never happened.

"I know," She said, guilt crushing her stomach as she lied. She closed her eyes briefly, but other than that didn't allow herself to show anything. She felt one of Jaune's arms wrap around her shoulders and her eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Hey, it's alright." He said soothingly, and Pyrrha let herself relax against him. Jaune was one of the few people that could pick up on her minute displays of emotion. She had learned how to control her outward appearance at a very young age given all the attention she got for her successes in tournaments, but nonetheless, Jaune always seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

"Thanks Jaune." She said, smiling softly at him. She wanted to tell him, to find some way to make him see her the way he had seen Weiss in their first year at Beacon, but she couldn't do anything. Trying to force it would just push Jaune away, and having him as a friend and partner was better than not having him at all. She sighed and pushed away from him.

They sat next to one another, their legs brushing slightly. It was comfortable. They chatted idly for the next few hours, and as always, Jaune made her laugh on more than one occasion. Despite the fact that she felt tired to her very bones, spending time with Jaune was enjoyable and made her forget how hard they had been working the past few days. Her heart lifted more the later into the night they talked, and she caught herself looking at her leader in admiration more than a few times. Eventually though, they both grew tired and decided it was time to rouse the next watch. Pyrrha stood and stretched, loosening up her joints that had grown stiff from several hours of sitting. She offered her hand to Jaune, who accepted it graciously, and pulled him to his feet. She let her fingers linger against his for a moment longer before dropping his hand.

They walked over to the lean-to, and Pyrrha knelt down next to Yang. She shook the golden haired huntress in training's shoulder, and was met with a loud growl of protest. Yang rolled over, and Pyrrha had to shake her friend three more times before the blonde finally woke up.

"The forest had better be on fire." She said, her eyes drooping.

"It's your turn to take watch Yang." Pyrrha said, smiling at her friend.

"Right," She answered, then rolled back over. Pyrrha laughed lightly, then realized that Yang had actually fallen asleep again.

It took about ten minutes, but Pyrrha finally managed to coax Yang off her bed roll, sending her to sit with Blake who had woken up right away when Jaune had shaken her. Pyrrha walked to the other side of the lean-to where team JNPR had taken up residence. She got into the bedroll she had set up earlier in the evening and pulled her sleeping bag up around her. Jaune had already tucked himself in, but had waited for her to be ready before going to sleep.

"You think they'll fall asleep?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha settled onto her roll.

"Yang might," Pyrrha said with a slight laugh. "But Blake should keep her in line."

"Yeah I guess." Jaune looked at her for a second and opened his mouth as though he was going to say more, then closed it again. She looked at him curiously until finally he spoke. "Um, goodnight Pyrrha."

"Goodnight Jaune." She answered as he rolled over. She looked at him for a moment more before relaxing and drifting off to sleep. Given how tired she was, it didn't take long for her to pass out.

/

The world came into blurry focus, and Pyrrha rubbed her eyes. When she removed her hands again, everything was much clearer, and she saw Jaune kneeling over top of her. His blond locks that were normally well kept were tousled and dirty. He had a few smudges of dirt on his face, and Pyrrha presumed that it was from rolling over onto the ground in the middle of the night.

"Time to wake up, come on." He said, smiling at her as she grabbed his offered hand and he lifted her up. Pyrrha looked around to see Ren waking Nora up and everyone else but Yang already awake. "Time for a mission meeting." Jaune said, and Pyrrha nodded. She rolled up her sleeping bag and travel roll and stuffed them into her small backpack. All the others did the same, and finally Weiss tried to wake Yang up. Yang responded a bit faster in the morning than she had last night, and only a few minutes after waking up, Pyrrha was standing in a circle with her friends around the fire pit.

"So Jaune and I were talking this morning," Ruby started, "And the incident with the Goliath has us worried. It was following that hover jet we saw, and we think it was heading towards the scouting outpost."

"So, that massive Grimm that could easily trample us without a second thought is at our extraction point?" Yang asked, one eyebrow raised and her eyes half lidded.

"Yep." Ruby nodded to emphasize her point.

"Great! Sounds like a plan!" Yang said cheerily in mock enthusiasm.

"Probably along with whoever lured it there and any other Grimm that were following that plane." Jaune added.

"So there's no way we can go there, right?" Weiss said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"We may not have a choice." Pyrrha offered, looking at Jaune and remembering their conversation last night. "We won't be able to get a signal out here to contact Beacon, and our only ride home will be going there."

"That sounds great." Yang said sarcastically.

"What would you have us do?" Ren asked the two leaders, who were standing side by side.

"Um, well, uh... You see... Jaune, you get to tell them." Ruby said sheepishly.

"Really? They're gonna kill me though." Jaune whined.

"Spit it out vomit-boy." Yang winked at him.

"Really? That was like, more than three years ago."

"Let's have it." Weiss said, her voice as cold as usual. Jaune slumped his shoulders in defeat and took a deep breath.

"Alright, we need to get to just outside the scouting outpost by the end of today. We'll be able to rest for a full day if we get there tonight, and we'll have a chance to see what we're getting into before going in the day after tomorrow. The jet is suppos-"

_Whack. _

Someone had thrown a bag at Jaune's head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You're asking us to go ten miles in one day. In case you haven't noticed, _Jaune_, I'm wearing _heels_. Do you have any idea what that's like?" Weiss said, her voice rising in pitch.

"Lady stilts hurt." Ruby admitted.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side." Jaune said.

"He's right though." Blake cut in before anyone threw anything else. "We don't really know what's happening, and whatever is going on in the forest right now is _not_ normal. We need to be ready."

"I agree." Ren said.

"Looks like you'll have to suck it up, princess." Yang said to Weiss, smirking a bit. "Style comes at a sacrifice." Weiss rolled her eyes at that. Pyrrha looked around the group. Everyone was still tired to be sure, but they could likely get through the day without too much stress. The extra time the following day for rest would certainly be beneficial if it came down to a fight at the outpost.

"We should get going though." Jaune said, tossing the nap sack that had hit him in the face back to her. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get to sleep and the sooner the Ice Queen gets to rest her feet."

"Would you please stop calling me that?" The heiress practically demanded, and her teammates gave her a pointed look. She made an exasperated sound and started to walk off. "Well then, let's go."

Pyrrha walked after Weiss and soon everyone else followed. Before they had moved more than a few hundred paces from their camp though, Blake asked everyone to stop. Pyrrha watched as her friend closed her eyes in concentration. She saw the faunus' ears twitch slightly, and the girl's eyes shot open.

"Grimm," She said definitively.

"Where?" Ruby asked, her scythe already extended.

"All around us, and there's a lot of them."

Blake furtively drew her blade, and the others followed her lead. Jaune looked around for a moment, then pointed at the tree branches sprawling overtop of them. Pyrrha nodded at him, understanding her partner immediately. She bounced three steps to the nearest tree trunk and jumped up it, digging her boot's toe into the tree and leaping off of it to catch a branch. In one fluid motion, she pulled herself up onto the branch and crouched low there. Catching on to the plan, Blake followed suit as did Ruby. They were the quietest in the group. The three of them crept along the branches, leaping from one to another, slowly making their way away from the rest of their teammates. Pyrrha scanned the forest ahead and below them until she saw them.

It was easily the largest pack of Beowolves she had seen in her life. The creatures were sprinting through the woods, their bodies pressed together as they pressed against one another trying to make their way through. It was a living river, a seething mass of Grimm. Pyrrha would have guessed at least a hundred of them, probably more. Pyrrha waited patiently, her body buzzing with her combat instincts. Finally Pyrrha looked back at Ruby and Blake, who were perched side by side, and nodded back in the direction they had come. The three of them made their way back as stealthily as they could. They took every precaution they could to not alert the massive pack of Beowolves, and it took them a few minutes for them to get back to the spot where the rest of the party was waiting. They dropped down, all three silent as could be, next to their teammates.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, his brow furrowed in worry.

"Boatload of wolves." Ruby said, the slightest edge of nervousness in her voice.

"Ren!" Nora squealed excitedly. "This is exactly like my dream! We can get their pelts and start a Grimm rug business!" The orange haired huntress in training had started bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Nora, Grimm disintegrate when they die. We can't make pelts. We talked about this." Ren said deadpan, though his lips twitched into a ghost of a smile.

"How many?" Jaune asked, directing his question at Pyrrha.

"At least a hundred." She replied militantly. The group was silent for a moment as everyone processed the new information.

"We can't fight that many," Weiss said. "Not by ourselves."

"Neither can anything else." Ruby said with a devilish grin.

"Oh no you don't." Weiss started when she saw the expression on her partner's face. "Whatever you're thinking do _not_ say it. That's the kind of look that you had when you got me stuck on the back of a Nevermore."

"No one can see us coming if they're focused on a hundred Beowolves instead." Jaune said, and Pyrrha began to understand what was happening. She smiled to herself as everyone started to realize what the two leaders were suggesting.

"So... Who feels like chasing a massive pack of Grimm that would rip us to shreds if they realized we were behind them?" Yang asked the group, sounding quite chipper.

"You're all crazy." Weiss exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Please Jaune," Nora said with a sparkle in her eye. "Let us go. Please, please, please, pleas-"

"Okay, okay Nora. We're going. It's going to be the safest way to travel today anyhow."

Pyrrha giggled as she saw the look of horror and shock on Weiss' face. She wondered if her friend regretted wearing high heeled boots on the mission now, not that Pyrrha herself was wearing anything more practical.

"Alright, then let's get going." Ruby said, tightening the straps of her backpack. Pyrrha followed the younger woman's lead, making sure that her pack was secure. It was going to be a long day of hard running, and she didn't want to have to stop to adjust her backpack. Weiss was the only one who hesitated to follow Ruby's lead, but as everyone got into line to jog out she let out a _hmph_ and tightened her backpack. Pyrrha followed Jaune and ran beside Blake as they jogged into the woods.

Before long, Pyrrha was losing herself in the rhythm of the run, feeling her feet pounding against the ground. She could feel her heart pounding, sending blood roaring through her body, and her lungs burning ever so slightly as she breathed in and out. The steady cadence of her feet against the ground was like the beat of a drum, keeping her on pace. Around her, she could hear the other members of the party breathing hard, but Pyrrha was simply rejoicing in the physical effort. Running was one of her favorite activities, and the constant tempo of it reminded her of the even pacing of combat in a way.

After an hour or so, the sweat started to bead up on her brow and fall into her eyes, stinging them. She wiped it off, and kept moving, everyone around her doing the same. The party tore through the trees, dashing to keep pace with the pack of Beowolves ahead of them. Fortunately, likely thanks to Jaune and Ruby's decision, they didn't encounter any Grimm along their way. Though Pyrrha was enjoying herself, she knew that running at this pace was tiring to both herself and the others, and if they had to fight a large group of Grimm at the moment, they would be hard pressed to come out uninjured. The group continued on uninterrupted until the sun reached its peak, high above them, and Ruby slowed down. The group stopped, and Jaune undid his bag, tossing out a couple packs of dehydrated meat and some canned peaches. Pyrrha caught hers deftly, cracking the package of jerky. She took a bite of the stringy meat, enjoying the salty taste. She felt Ren pull something from her bag behind her, and he handed her that water bottle she had strapped into the bag earlier in the morning. She returned the favor, than moved to get Nora's for her so none of them had to remove their packs.

Pyrrha looked towards their destination, noticing how much closer they were than when they had left. Given their current pace, they should arrive within a few hundred meters of it by mid-afternoon. The party rested for about five more minutes before starting off again. Though they were all tired, the eight of them knew that their best chance of success lied with trailing those Beowolves, so they pushed themselves. The heat from the sun pounded onto the back of Pyrrha's neck, and she could feel the heat radiating off her skin. She was working hard to be sure, but she wasn't about to complain, and she knew the others weren't going to either. They were forced to stop once more to rest and rehydrate, but other than that, they kept moving the whole time. True to form, they stopped about a quarter of a mile from the structure.

Not much further beyond them the forest thinned out into a meadow that rose onto a hill upon which the scouting outpost stood. The base of the tower was the same size as that of Beacon, and Pyrrha was certain that at some point, it must have truly been a sight to behold. It was made of old, mossy stone, and most of the walls had collapsed. There were stones strewn all around the clearing surrounding the hill from the fallen walls, and everything had been overgrown by a thin layer of ivy. At the front of the tower, Pyrrha could see one of two doors that must have stretched twelve feet high, though it's other half was missing. Pyrrha could see a few bits of the higher floors, but most of them were in disrepair and ruin.

And around the base of the structure were more Grimm that Pyrrha had ever seen in one place before. There were Creeps, Beowolves and Ursas all snapping at one another, but also Tajitus and even a few Deathstalkers. Finally, Pyrrha's eyes rested on the Goliath they had seen a few days ago, milling back and forth in front of the tower. So many Grimm gathered in one place bothered Pyrrha, and she wasn't sure how they would get past all of them.

The loud roaring of an engine filled the air, and Pyrrha looked up to see a dust plane approaching from the right end of the clearing. It flew over to on top of the tower before descending through the ruins and disappearing. _Underground, perhaps._ She thought to herself. A few moments later, a crowd of Grimm rushed through the trees into the awaiting mass of their brethren.

Someone tapped her shoulder, and Pyrrha turned to see Blake nodding in the opposite direction. The rest of the group was already making their way around. Pyrrha followed quietly, and they kept moving until they moved from flat ground to an incline. They made their way halfway up the foothill they had come to before Ruby and Jaune stopped.

"Alright, let's set up camp here for tonight. We'll do some scouting tomorrow and we'll rest up."

Everyone broke off to do their daily duties. Yang and Nora gathered firewood, Ren got all his cooking supplies ready, Blake started setting up a shelter and Pyrrha accompanied Weiss as she set up a few warning glyphs. Setting up camp was one of the more humbling parts of Pyrrha's day. Having dedicated so much of her life to training, she had never learned many other skills. She may have been one of the strongest fighters of the group, but she was not particularly talented at the other duties required to survive in the wilderness. She could accomplish everything she needed to, such as preparing food and sanitizing water, but she couldn't make a feast out of dehydrated food like Ren could. Once Weiss was satisfied that the glyphs would warn her if there was an intruder, they made their way back to their modest camp. Ren and Weiss volunteered for first watch.

"They're gonna be real chatty." Yang said, and Pyrrha smiled lightly. Ren and Weiss were two of the quieter members of their party, and she could imagine that most of their watch would take place in silence.

She sat down on her bed roll as Yang got the fire going. Pyrrha watched the flames lick the bottom of the metal pot Ren was boiling water in. After a few minutes, the water boiled and Ren broke open several packets of their rations. Pyrrha's mouth watered as she breathed in the scent of whatever it was that Ren was making, and before long plates were being passed around with noodles, some beans and tomato sauce. It wasn't as good as his pancakes, but Pyrrha thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

"Great grub!" Ruby said between mouthfuls.

"Thank you, Ren." Pyrrha added. Everyone else chimed in, complimenting their chef. After dinner Pyrrha got ready for bed. Though she had always enjoyed running, she was still very tired from their long journey. So she tucked herself into her warm sleeping bag next to Jaune. He smiled at her as he got into bed, and she smiled back. She wanted to say something more, just to talk to him, but nothing came to mind and she didn't want to delay his sleep. She had noticed that the bags under his eyes had been growing while they were in the forest, so she just leaned back and watched the rosy petals fall around her.

"Beautiful," Jaune said from beside her, and Pyrrha's stomach jumped nervously.

"Pardon?" She said politely, sure Jaune was not in fact saying what she thought he was.

"The forest. It's beautiful. It's too bad we're only ever here on missions." He said, and Pyrrha found herself nodding in agreement. "We should come here sometime just for fun." He said.

"With all the Grimm?" She asked. It was far too dangerous to come into Forever Fall just to sightsee.

"Yeah, maybe not." He laughed slightly. "G'night Pyrrha."

"Goodnight Jaune," She replied. Pyrrha put her head on her pillow, thinking about what her leader had said. She would love to come to the forest with him, just the two of them, but that wasn't likely to happen. She sighed and rolled over, and before long exhaustion took her and she fell asleep.

**/**

**This pretty much concludes the introduction portion of the story, and next chapter will be the real jumping off point of the story! From now on, character point of view will be dictated by whoever is going to be the important character(s) in the chapter, and the story should be picking up. I'm going to try and throw up another chapter before the weekend is over, as I'm very busy next week and will be unable to get anything out before thurs/fri. Anyways, I hope everyone's enjoying! I know it's been a bit of a slow start, but I can assure you that I have a lot of fun and excitement in store for the two teams. As per usual, I appreciate any and all criticism, thoughts, ideas or just straight up comments! **

**-Unjax**


	5. Reunions

Jaune poked the fire he had been letting die for the past few hours. He had been woken up for the final watch, so as the sun had started to crest above the angular mountains that surrounded the forest, Jaune had barely stoked the embers to keep the heat radiating out of the fire pit. He hadn't bothered adding any fresh fuel. The sun would be up soon and they wouldn't need the heat anymore.

He looked across the smouldering ashes at Ruby. The younger girl had dozed off on her hand about an hour ago, but Jaune hadn't woken her up. Everyone was utterly exhausted, and he didn't want to steal her sleep away. Now though, it was dawn, and Jaune knew that everyone should start waking up soon. They needed to do some scouting and reconnaissance as well as figure out a way to get on the dust plane that was going to arrive tomorrow. He walked around the small circle of stones and shook Ruby's shoulder lightly. The younger girl's eyes slid open slowly and she looked up at Jaune. When she saw him her eyes flew wide open.

"Did I fall asleep?" She asked. "I did didn't I? Sorry Jaune." She said, and Jaune chuckled.

"It's fine." He replied, giving her a soft smile. "You looked like you needed the rest."

"Yeah, I think we all do." Her voice was chipper and upbeat, but Jaune could hear the fatigue slowing her speech.

The two walked over to where their teammates were sleeping under the small shelter they had made out of sticks and branches. Jaune looked down at his teammates, and even in their sleep they looked tired. The one that worried him most though was Nora. She had always been upbeat and energetic, but she seemed to be suffering badly from the long treks that the party had undertaken in the past few days. Being Nora, she had to look at every butterfly or flower that they came across, and expended a lot of extra energy in the process. She had deep shadows under her eyes, and Jaune sighed slightly in guilt as he shook her shoulder to wake her up.

"Pancakes!" The cry came the instant he touched her shoulder, and Nora was immediately awake. Next to her, Ren sat up immediately, looking around, his twin pistols drawn. He saw Nora, and dropped them back into his sleeves.

"When we get back, perhaps." He said to her, then the two got out of their sleeping bags. They didn't pack anything up though. If all went to plan, then they would be sleeping in the same spot that night. There was no need to pack it up. Jaune finally kneeled next to Pyrrha, her long red locks flowing around her head. One strand had made its way over her face, and Jaune tucked it behind her ear before gently calling her name.

"Pyrrha? Time to wake up." At the sound of his voice, her emerald eyes cracked open. She looked at him and simply nodded. An instant later she was standing next to Jaune and the rest of their teammates. "Alright team JNPR, looks like its gonna be a-"

_PHWEET!_

There was an ear splitting whistle across from them and Jaune clapped his hands over his ears. He looked over to see Ruby with a small silver whistle in her hands and all of her teammates scrabbling around in their bedsheets in sudden panic. The three other members of team RWBY finally came to and glared at their leader. Weiss stood up in a huff and grabbed the whistle from Ruby's mouth, snapping the small string that went around Ruby's neck. Weiss tossed it to Yang.

"Would you like to do the honours this time?" Weiss asked the blonde.

"My pleasure!" Yang said happily, tossing the whistle on the ground. Her arm came back and her wristlets snapped into place around her fist. There was a loud bang, then her fist came down on the poor little piece of metal, utterly obliterating it.

"Please tell me you don't have any more of those." Blake said, rubbing her ears underneath her bow. Jaune laughed a little at the scene in front of him.

"Do you three want me to start waking you up like that?" He asked, inclining his head to his teammates. He was met with three blank stares. "I'll take that as a maybe then." He said, chuckling.

A few minutes later, the eight of them sat in a circle around the dead fire. Jaune looked around the circle of his friends, each one as tired as the previous. Coming here a day early had been the right call. They needed rest, and even though they had had to push themselves harder to get there earlier, if they took the whole day to relax it should more than make up for it.

"Alright," Jaune began, organizing his thoughts before speaking. "We're going to have an easy day today. We'll separate into teams and see if we can scout a way into the old outpost. Once we get back, we'll rest and plan out how we're going to get in."

"Keep your eyes open." Ruby added. "With that many Grimm, we probably won't be able to find an easy way."

"Unorthodox, just great." Weiss said flatly.

"Oh lighten up!" Yang reprimanded her teammate.

"Once we get to the outpost, we'll be ready for extraction then." Blake said, looking at Jaune levelly.

"Well," He laughed a little nervously. "Not exactly. We have no idea what's waiting for us in the outpost." The group was silent for a moment. "With the dust planes that have been flying in, I assume that someone else is in there. So we're going to try and time it so we get in just as our ride gets here."

"And if they're late? It's not exactly like they know what's going on here." Blake cut in, her voice a little exasperated.

"Hey," Ruby said, holding her hands up in front of her appeasingly. "No matter what way you twist this, we don't have a whole lot of choices. We need to get to the tower, which is surrounded by Grimm and possibly inhabited by a rogue group of outlaws."

"I for one would prefer not to stay in there longer than we have to." Weiss said, nodding to her team leader.

"It's settled then." Ren finished. Jaune looked at his friend thankfully. His team didn't speak up a whole lot when it came to meetings like this. Nora never really cared as long as she got to hit stuff eventually, Pyrrha had always been supportive of his decisions, and Ren just hardly ever spoke. When Ren added something, people listened. It made Jaune's life a lot easier.

"Are we splitting into our partnerships or teams?" Pyrrha spoke up from beside Jaune.

"We'll go in pairs. We have a pretty good idea where all the Grimm near here are, so there's no real reason to stay in full teams. We'll cover more ground if we split up."

"Everyone ready?" Ruby asked the party. Her question was met with a chorus of affirmations, and everyone paired up with their partners. Jaune and Pyrrha packed their bags side by side, and within ten minutes, the clearing where they had slept emptied as the four groups moved silently into the forest.

/

Ruby walked through the forest beside Weiss, both of them being careful not to talk. From their camp, they had come to the edge of where the trees thinned out and the sea of Grimm began, and were now walking along the fringe of the trees. Neither of them dared to whisper a word, and they stepped silently. No more than fifty paces from them was the largest congregation of Grimm that Ruby had ever seen, and despite being confident in her combat abilities, she didn't feel like taking on hundreds of Grimm.

They had been scouring the edge of the forest for over an hour, trying to figure out a way to sneak into the deserted scouting outpost to no avail. Ruby wasn't about to give up though. They had to find a way in, there was no room for failure. She looked at some of the higher trees, hoping they might have some long branches that might get them partway there, but she couldn't see anything that would bring them anywhere close to where they needed to go.

Ruby felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Weiss tilt her head back towards the woods. Her partner wanted to take a break, and Ruby nodded. They walked away from the clearing until Ruby was confident that none of the Grimm would hear them.

"If only we had a few giant Nevermore." She said sadly.

"You can't be serious."

"We need to get in there Weiss, no matter what."

"Oh yeah, why don't we just ride a Goliath into the outpost? That seems like fun too." Ruby looked at her partner, a spark of energy flaring up in her eyes.

"Weiss!" She exclaimed. "You're a genius!" The heiress looked at her, absolute shock plastered on her face.

"No! We are _not_ riding a Goliath, Ruby Rose. Don't be absurd."

"Well why not? It's tall enough that the other Grimm couldn't reach us."

"And how do you propose we get it to go where we want? It wouldn't work, we need something more concrete."

Ruby sighed. Weiss was right. They couldn't ride a Goliath around, no matter how much the idea would excite Nora. She had just gotten excited because it was an idea of some kind. Ruby sighed, wracking her mind for any way they might get to the old scouting outpost. They couldn't go straight to the outpost thanks to the Grimm, and they couldn't jump to it. There weren't any trees that would get them close enough, and even with the help of dust, they wouldn't make it. Unless..

"Hey Weiss, you remember the first time we fought as a team?"

"Against the Nevermore?"

"Yeah, we slung Gambol Shroud between two pillars and you fired me through the air."

"You're thinking we can do the same here?"

"If we connect Gambol Shroud to two trees, you can fire one person off at a time, and you can come last. We jump to the ruins instead of trying to find a way to walk in." Weiss looked at her, hmm-ing in affirmation.

"There is one problem though." Weiss said pointedly, and Ruby lowered her eyes.

"We'd have to leave Gambol Shroud behind."

"Exactly." Weiss affirmed.

Ruby knew what it was she would be asking Blake to do. Being the team leader, she had taken it upon herself to learn as much as she could about her teammates since she had come to Beacon, and she knew that Blake had come from a life where she had almost nothing. As far as Ruby could tell, a dusty, leather bound notebook, a few bows, a couple changes of clothes and Gambol Shroud were all that Blake had owned since she was a child. Blake had given up that life, but nonetheless, her weapon had been with her through a lot. All of her hardships in the White Fang, fighting Roman and even the Grimm she had encountered since then she had faced with Gambol Shroud. Ruby cherished Crescent Rose, and with everything her scythe had gotten her through, Ruby would be hard pressed to ever give it up. She could imagine Blake's attachment to her weapon would be just as, if not more, profound.

"Alright," Ruby said, realizing she hadn't spoken for a moment. "If anyone has a good plan other than that, we don't bring it up. But if we can't find another way to get to the top of the hill, we might have to ask Blake to give up Gambol Shroud."

"I know," Weiss said softly. "I just don't like the thought of it. This should have been an easy mission. There weren't supposed to be hordes of Grimm or possible rogue bandits hiding in the extraction point."

"Well, we're pretty much huntresses now. It's our job is to be ready even when we can't possibly prepare for what comes at us. After tomorrow, we'll be back at Beacon and we can talk to Ozpin about this, maybe get some real huntsmen and huntresses to come and flush out whoever's in there. Let's just focus on getting on board the dust plane tomorrow."

Ruby met Weiss' pale blue eyes, and her partner nodded at her. Ruby smiled back at Weiss, then the two moved on. They went back to the forest edge, trying to find anything else they could use to reach the scouting outpost, but they came up empty handed. As the sun started to peak, the pair headed back to camp. Everyone had decided to meet up at noon after scouting and share what they had found. Ruby and Weiss were the first ones back, and the two opened their backpacks to pull out some food for lunch.

Ruby looked at her partner furtively, making sure Weiss wasn't watching her. Sure that the heiress was preoccupied with finding her own food, Ruby reached into a pouch in her bag and pulled out a small chocolate chip cookie. She popped it in her mouth and took a bite, letting the wonderful taste of chocolate flood her mouth. Ruby smiled contently, closing her eyes and letting the wonderful taste envelop her.

"Hey! What do you have there?" Weiss' voice had an accusatory tone, and Ruby's eyes shot open. She looked at her partner guiltily.

"Nph-mm." She tried to say around her mouthful of cookie. She took a few quick chomps and swallowed the cookie. "Um, nothing?" She corrected, but it came out more as a question.

"Cookies again?" Weiss reprimanded, her hands on her hips.

"Yes," Ruby admitted, lowering her gaze.

"Just don't let Nora find them." Weiss rolled her eyes, and Ruby grinned. It wasn't so long ago that Weiss would have shouted at her for bringing an 'unnecessary luxury' on a mission.

Ruby pulled out her real lunch, a few slices of cheese and some bread, and quickly made her cheese sandwich. Most food would spoil after a few days out in the wilderness, so their menu options had been limited. Having Ren around helped a lot for dinners, but other than that, food on the mission was pretty bland. Weiss pulled out some canned tuna and dug into it.

"Something smells good." Came the familiar sound of Blake's voice behind them. Ruby turned to see the faunus girl's ears twitch slightly as she smelled the tuna. Yang and Blake sat beside Ruby and Weiss, and the four of them gathered around the fire pit to eat their meals. Blake, of course, had grabbed a can of fish for herself, and Yang had pulled out some dehydrated meat.

"So, did you two find anything?" Ruby asked. She would have waited for Jaune and his team to return before talking about the scouting, but she was really hoping that her sister and her partner had found something. Ruby didn't want to have to bring up the plan her and Weiss had come up with.

"No, I don't know how we're going to get into the ruins. Between the Grimm and the shelter of the forest thinning out near the hill, there's not much we can do." Yang said, though she seemed unfazed.

"Maybe JNPR have found something." Blake suggested.

"Nope!" Jaune called as he walked into the clearing, his team behind him. "We met up with Nora and Ren on the way back, neither of us have anything." The blond leader sat down with a heavy sigh. "We have to figure something out soon. You four didn't find anything at all?" Jaune looked up and met Ruby's eyes.

Inside her mind, Ruby was struggling. She was torn between telling everyone her plan and protecting Blake. If there was a chance that they could find any other possibility, Ruby didn't want to sacrifice Blake's weapon. On the other hand, her responsibility was to everyone, not just Blake. That's what it meant to be a leader, and they would all be trapped if they didn't get into the scouting outpost. It was her duty to tell them. Weiss looked at her, and Ruby nodded at her, giving her permission to speak.

"Ruby actually came up with a plan, but we wanted to see if anyone else had any better ideas first."

"Why?" Blake said with a bit of a laugh in her voice. "How bad can it be?"

"We are talking about the same Ruby that thought piggy-backing a Nevermore was a good idea." Yang reminded her partner.

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked Ruby.

"Do you remember back during initiation when we killed the Nevermore? Weiss launched me off of Gambol Shroud. If we could stick Blake's whip into two trees, we could fire everyone into the structure one at a time. Weiss would come in last, but we'd all get into the outpost."

"Wait, but then what happens to Gambol Shroud?" Yang said, her voice tense.

"We'd have to leave it behind." Jaune mused, his brow creasing. Ruby looked over at Blake, but she couldn't read her friend's face. Blake looked back at her, and their eyes locked. There was a long pause.

"Okay," The faunus said finally, nodding her head and unsheathing her weapon. It collapsed into its pistol form, and she tossed it to Ruby who caught it deftly. The other girl turned away and started to walk, but Yang laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Blake, you don't have to. We can find another way." Yang spoke softly, and Blake turned back a bit to face her.

"There is no other way." Blake stated flatly. "We can't fight our way in, and we don't have the ability to drop in from the air. The plan makes sense." She turned away as she finished speaking.

Everyone else was silent as Blake walked back towards their lean-to. She sat down on her sleeping mat and then was still. Guilt rumbled through Ruby's stomach. Asking someone to give up a weapon was asking them to give up a part of themselves. Jaune walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"It's alright. You had to ask her or we'd all be stuck out here."

"I know, but it doesn't make it any better." Jaune nodded in agreement, but didn't say another word.

The rest of the afternoon was spent resting. Most people took naps, but Ruby didn't feel like sleeping. She just sat by the fire pit with her maintenance kit making sure Crescent Rose was in prime condition. She didn't know why, but she had the feeling that she would need it the next day. She kept an eye on the tower throughout the afternoon, trying to see if there was anything that might give away whatever the ruins were concealing, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary. As dinner approached, Jaune waved her over to where he was sitting a little ways from the lean-to. She walked over and sat beside him.

"What's up Jaune?"

"Just wanted to talk to you about the order of the launch tomorrow. I want to know who you think should go first."

"Why does it matter?"

"It shouldn't, but I want to be prepared. Just in case we meet someone on the other side." Ruby thought for a second. If they did meet opposition right away, it would make sense to have the better combatants go first. She and Pyrrha had the best combat scores of the eight of them.

"Pyrrha and I first." Ruby suggested. Jaune nodded.

"I'm thinking Pyrrha and I go first. We both have shields, so we could defend better if we're outnumbered while everyone else lands. We'll be able to cover the rest of you coming in. Then you next for sure."

"Makes sense." Ruby said. Though Ruby would be more than capable of defending herself, she wouldn't be able to do anything for her friends trying to land. Once Pyrrha and Jaune landed, the two would be able to make a shield wall for everyone else to land behind. "I think Blake should come second last. She's only going to have her sheath to fight with."

"Good point." Jaune smiled at her. "So Pyrrha, me, you, Yang, Ren, Nora, Blake, then Weiss?"

"Sounds like a plan." Ruby said with a nod.

The two made their way back to the campfire. Ren had started it up again to cook some more food for the night, and everyone else was crowding around to get their share. Jaune told everyone about the plan for the next day, and they all agreed. Once dinner was finished, they set up the watch schedule for the night, and everyone got into bed. Ruby didn't have to go on watch until just past midnight, so she happily tucked herself into her sleeping bag. Even though they had taken the day off, she was still extremely tired. It only took a few moments from when her head hit her travel mat for her to fall asleep.

/

Blake's eyes opened as she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and she tensed immediately. She looked around, realizing it was still dark out. The stars shone through the treetops, blotted out temporarily by small petals drifting lazily overhead every so often. Her eyes finally focused on Yang.

"Good morning!" She sang. Blake rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "It's yours and Ruby's turn for watch. Come on, up and at 'em."

Blake rolled out of her sleeping bag, seeing Ruby do the same a few beds down. They made their way over to the campfire, and sat in front of the warm coals, stoking the fire every so often. The winter winds had started blowing through the northern reaches of Forever Fall, so it was a cool night, and Blake wished she had thought to bring a jacket. The cool air pricked her bare arms, making her shiver and huddle up closer to the fire.

"Hey, Blake," Ruby said from across the fire pit. "I just want to say I'm sorry. I didn't want to suggest using Gambol Shroud."

"It's alright," Blake answered, though the thought still brought her some sadness. She loved her weapon. It had been the only constant in her life. Between the radical changes in the White Fang, the chaotic missions, abandoning that life in favour of Beacon, and everything that had happened since, Gambol Shroud had always been strapped to her back or held in her hand. The thought of leaving it behind was like the thought of leaving behind a little bit of who she was, but she understood the necessity. "We have to make it to the ruins or we'll be stranded out here. With this many Grimm out in Forever Fall, I wouldn't give ourselves much time before being overrun. We have to do it."

Ruby nodded to her in thanks, but the two didn't speak much after that. Blake didn't really feel like making small talk right now. She was tired, a little upset, and consequently, irritable. Fortunately, her team leader seemed to pick up on her mood and didn't try to start a conversation. Eventually the light of the moon and stars faded as the sun began to rise. Once it had broken the horizon, Blake and Ruby woke their teammates along with team JNPR. Fortunately, the one they had broken yesterday had in fact been Ruby's last whistle, so Blake didn't have to worry about the high pitched shriek of the metal. Blake rolled up her sleeping bag and travel mat, stuffing them into her backpack. The bag was essentially empty now. There were two cans of tuna, a few water purification tablets and her notebook alongside her sleep equipment, but other than that, she had nothing with her. They needed to get out of Forever Fall today. If they didn't, they would run out of supplies quickly.

Once she had everything packed and ready to go, she waited by the campfire as everyone else got ready to go. Once the rest of them were packed, they dismantled the lean-to and hid it's components as well as dousing the fire and scattering the rocks that had made up the pit. There wasn't a whole lot they could do about the scorch marks, but no one really cared. The chances of them being tailed this far into the wilderness were slim to none, and they would be out of the forest by noon if all went according to plan.

The party moved out from the camp, some of them chatting idly as they walked towards the edge of the forest. Blake didn't say a word. Yang cast a few worried glances at her as they walked, but Blake would just look away and her partner didn't press the matter. They finally came to a spot between two large, thick, tall trees and Ruby pulled up.

"This looks like it'll , take this tree, I've got that one." Ruby said, indicating the nearest tree first and then the one a bit further away. The two scaled about halfway up their respective trees before Blake heard the familiar shot of her whip being fired. Gambol Shroud whirled through the air, and Yang caught it. The blond wrapped the long strap around the tree, then buried the blade in the trunk to secure it. Ruby tied the other end of the cord around her tree, then the sisters descended.

"Alright, Pyrrha and I are going to go first." Jaune stated, looking at the two teams. "We'll use our shields to create a wall as the rest of you land behind us. There shouldn't be anyone there, but we need to be prepared. Yang, you follow, the Ren and Nora should go. Blake, you come second last since you only have your sheath. Weiss, of course, will come last."

"Got it," Ren said stoically. They all lined up in front of Gambol Shroud except for Weiss, who stood behind it. Pyrrha climbed up a nearby tree, then tossed her shield in front of her. She landed on her shield as it met the cord, and Gambol Shroud stretched like the string of a bow. One of Weiss' glyphs appeared behind the redhead, stabilizing her and drawing her down towards the ground. Once Pyrrha had stilled, Weiss held her sword up and swung it down. The black glyph turned red, and Pyrrha was launched into the distance. Jaune had already climbed the tree, and as Pyrrha was sent rocketing towards the tower, he jumped onto the cable. One by one, her friends were sent into the distance until Blake followed last. She hopped onto the cord and found she didn't have to keep her balance. Weiss' glyph pinned her in place, and a moment later, she felt her old weapon's cord tighten. Blake was flung into the air as though she weighed nothing. She reached the peak of her trajectory a few meters above one of the tower's windows and tucked into a ball. She passed through the shattered glass, feeling a small shard pressing cut her skin as she rolled onto the short platform of wood that hadn't collapsed yet. She was three stories above the ground floor, and saw a hole in the roof of a room below her. She could see her friends on the ground floor, and she dropped down behind Pyrrha and Jaune who were directly below her. She landed in a crouch, and stood again to exam the room.

The first thing she noticed was that there was no dust. She had been expecting a layer of grime and dust to be coating everything around her, seeming as the place had supposedly been abandoned a long time ago. The interior, however, seemed in fine condition. It was a small room, maybe twice the size of her dorm back in Beacon, with shattered windows lining its back wall. On the right end of the room there was a small door in the center of the wall. She looked down at the floor, noticing it was made of some sort of metal with no rust markings on it. It was new. Blake's eyes continued to search the room, and then they fell on the reason why nobody had made a move yet. Across from them, standing in the center of the room, were Emerald, Mercury and a handful of White Fang soldiers. _What are they doing here?_ Blake wondered. The White Fang had no reason to be out in the middle of Forever Fall. _And why are Emerald and Mercury here?_

"Um, what?" Ruby said, mirroring the confusion of the seven other students.

"Come on kiddos, we've got a lot of work to do!" The call rang through the room from the door on the right, and Blake froze, every muscle in her body becoming rigid. That was a voice she would recognize anywhere. It was a voice that had haunted her mind for months during her first year at Beacon. It was the voice of the man who had almost destroyed Vale two and a half years ago. She turned towards the door slowly, dreading what she would see.

Roman Torchwick walked through the door, wearing the exact same clothes as he had been last time she had seen him. That white coat, the black bowler and even his damn cane. He froze when he saw them, and his other companion, Neo he had called her, walked in behind him. She cocked her head at them but didn't say a word. Roman studied the eight of them, and Blake didn't dare move a muscle. She was shaking, anger overwhelming her. Roman Torchwick embodied everything that Blake had tried to escape, and he was standing here in front of her, free once again.

"Hello everyone!" He said, his mouth twisting into a grin as he removed his cigar from his mouth. He tossed it on the ground and stomped it out with his cane. "Neo, why didn't you tell me we were having a party today?"

**So that chapter was a bit longer than most, but I was getting so tired of exposition! I just wanted to get to the part where we meet Torchwick again (I know you all saw this coming). This is when the plot really gets rolling, so I just wanted to get to the first really exciting part of the story. Next chapter should be fun, and be out next weekend! Any peer review, criticism and thoughts are always more than welcome! Other than that, see you all with the next (and finally exciting) chapters!**

**-Unjax**


	6. Reunions (P2)

_Ruby smiled at the green haired student who had ended up next to her. She smiled back at Ruby as the Grimm disappeared around them, their bony bodies already turning to dust and being swept away by the soft breeze. Roby looked around herself at the broken district on the edge of Vale. There was a lot of damage from all the Grimm that Roman had unleashed into the city, but students and teachers had been able to manage without too much trouble. Having an entire Atlesian fleet kicking around hadn't hurt either. _

_"You fought pretty well there!" Ruby turned to see that it was the green haired girl that had spoken to her. _

_"Thanks!" Ruby replied, her grin growing. She offered her hand for the other girl to shake. "I'm Ruby, I don't think I ever caught your name. You were in Professor Goodwitch's class, right?"_

_"Yeah, I've seen you around school a few times I think. I'm Emerald, one of the exchange students here from Haven. See the cocky looking guy in the gray track suit with the smirk over there?" The girl pointed at a young hunter in training with silver gray hair who was leaning against a wall with his leg kicked up against it. "That's my friend Mercury." _

_"Oh yeah! He's the one who fought Pyrrha right? You two are both really skilled. Your academy must be really good." Ruby saw the other girl smile at that. _

_"Yeah, you could say that. There's not a whole lot of room for failure where I come from." _

_"Well it's a pleasure to meet you." _

_"Likewise," The girl said curtly with a smile on her face. Ruby saw the rest of her team coming towards her. Yang cocked her head over to where Goodwitch was standing. The teacher probably wanted to debrief them about what had happened. _

_"Maybe I'll see you around." Ruby called over her shoulder as she jogged towards her team. _

_"I'm sure you will." Emerald answered as Ruby dashed away, turning too soon to see the smile grow on the other girl's face. _

_/_

_"Those are so _cool_!" Ruby exclaimed as Emerald held out her weapon. She had only seen them briefly while they had been fighting in Vale a week or so ago, and she just couldn't resist asking to see them. She had not been disappointed. Up close the were so much more intricate, fascinating and beautiful. Pistols that extended into short scythes that were attached to chains? Perfect for fighting at any distance against virtually any opponent. They would be hard to get used to, but they looked efficient and deadly. _

_"Thanks, I made them myself when I was younger. I've always loved weapons." Emerald shrugged, grinning a bit. Ruby practically started buzzing with excitement. Though everyone had their weapons, very few people shared Ruby's enthusiasm for them. Most people took the classes they needed to design a weapon, then once they had made it, they forgot everything they learned. Ruby would never be able to forget it though, and from the sound of it, neither would Emerald._

_/_

_Weiss stared at the smooth pavement below her feet, her hands tucked between her thighs as she did her best to hold back the tears. She didn't know why she felt like crying. She was a _Schnee_, she shouldn't be sitting on the front steps of Beacon crying like a little girl. It showed weakness, and it had been made clear to her early in her life that weakness was unacceptable. _

_"What's wrong, champ?" Weiss looked up to see Mercury walking towards her, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops. _Great, _she thought_, The most sarcastic guy in Beacon is _exactly_ who I want to see right now.

_"I'm fine," Weiss said, but even to herself the words sounded weak. _

_"No, you're not." Mercury stated matter of factly. "It's alright not to be fine sometimes though. Happens to most people. Happens to the best people. Happens to people especially when the people they have a crush on have spent the past hour and a half hitting on someone else." Mercury raised an eyebrow at her, then sat down next to her. Though Weiss didn't feel like she knew Mercury in particular very well, he and his partner, Emerald, had spent a lot of time with team RWBY and team JNPR. It had been a year since they arrived, and Weiss felt perfectly comfortable around the duo. _

_"I-, I don't know what you're talking about." Weiss lied, turning away from him. _

_"Look, Neptune's a great guy, you should understand that. He likes you, too-"_

_"Didn't exactly look like it." Weiss snapped venomously. She blinked after speaking, surprised with the ferocity of her words. Mercury raised his hands placatingly. _

_"He does, trust me. The second you stormed out of there, he got really worried. He wanted to come after you, but Yang told him he had done enough for the night. She pretty much ordered him to sit down. Her eyes were red. Let's be honest, when Yang tells you to do something, you do it." Weiss laughed a bit, bringing her hand up to wipe a tear away from under her eye._

_"If he likes me, what was he doing?" Weiss asked, entirely unsure of why she was talking. She hadn't exactly been the kind of girl to open up to others immediately, and this was very personal. It felt good though, like somehow telling someone else helped relieve the ache in her chest just a little bit. _

_"Well, he's a good guy, but Neptune's also an idiot." Mercury sighed, brushing his low hanging bang away from his eyes. "He's a guy who's had a suave move for every girl he's ever met. He's never really been concerned with one, singular, particular girl before. So, now that he likes you, he doesn't really know what to do. Falling back on what he used to do is easy, so he did. He just didn't realize how much it would hurt you." _

_Weiss looked at him in surprise. She was definitely going to give Neptune the cold shoulder for a few days, but Mercury's words sparked a little bit of hope in her chest. Neptune probably wasn't used to _not_ hitting on girls, but the way Mercury spoke he sounded so convinced that Neptune liked her back. It made her chest flutter ever so slightly. _

_"Thanks," Was all Weiss managed to say, still thinking about Neptune. Maybe he really did like her after all, despite all the attention he had been giving girls that weren't her._

_"Hey, what are friends for?" He shrugged and flashed her a smile. "Now come on, you don't want to miss Yang and Nora having a pancake eating contest, do you?" _

_/_

_Pyrrha eyed her opponent carefully. It was the first time that the two had volunteered to fight each other since the first time they had sparred two years ago, and this fight had dragged out much longer than the first. She watched his feet dancing back and forth for a moment before he planted a leg and kicked off it, spinning towards her. Pyrrha brought her shield up, deflecting the blow to the side. As the boot slid off her shield, Pyrrha brought Milos up underneath it, spinning Mercury. He landed deftly on his opposite foot, however, not pausing before bringing the boot she had just knocked to the side in a full circle towards her head. Pyrrha spun as she ducked, flipping Milos around her wrist so that when she finished turning, her weapon had become a rifle aimed at Mercury's chest. She fired three shots at him, but he dodged back and forth as he charged her, avoiding the dust rounds. Pyrrha brought her shield up once more as Mercury jumped into the air and landed three quick strikes against Akuo. As she blocked, she flipped Milos around once more, and swept at his feet as he landed with her spear. He squatted low and caught the shaft though, then spun Pyrrha around. She pulled the trigger on her weapon, and it fired against Mercury, but even as her spear hit his side, his boot caught Pyrrha in the hip. The two backed away from each other for a split second, then Pyrrha shifted her weight to lunge at her sparring partner. _

_There was a loud buzzing and light flared up all around Pyrrha, and she planted the leg she was about to lunge off of, freezing. A pace away from her, Mercury did the same. _

_"Miss Nikos, Mister Black, I apologize to interrupt, but it has been," Miss Goodwitch looked down at her scroll for a moment. "Fifteen minutes. We'll have to cut this match short, or the other students won't have a chance to fight." The professor turned away from them and spoke to the class, calling out the names of the next contestants. Pyrrha looked over at Mercury, and found him grinning back at her. _

_"We'll have to finish that some other day." He said, and Pyrrha nodded. _

_"I'd enjoy that." _

_Pyrrha hadn't used her semblance at all this time, but it didn't seem that Mercury had either. She had never felt so evenly matched with another person before. She had studied alongside Mercury for the two years since he had made the decision to stay at Beacon, and she had found that no other student had proven to be as capable as herself in combat other than Mercury and perhaps Ruby. If she had used her semblance to make small adjustments as they had fought, she likely could have overpowered him, but she had enjoyed the rush of combat against an opponent who could keep up with her. She smiled at Mercury as the two walked back into the stands._

_/_

"Is it my birthday?" Roman asked no one in particular, spinning his cane around on his index finger. "I mean, I get that I was locked up for a long time, but I think I would have remembered that it was my birthday." Torchwick laughed, looking at the eight students in front of him. "Not two weeks since my escape and I get to meet up with the four girls that got me locked up in the first place." The thief's voice suddenly dropped into a low, dangerous tone, and he planted his cane in front of him. "I've been looking forward to this." His henchmen looked at him, one of whom Weiss recognized. It was the massive, burly faunus with a thick accent she had met on the train last time they had stopped Torchwick. His heavy chainsaw was resting on his back, and Weiss eyed it carefully. He had bested her last time, but Weiss knew she was more than capable of taking him now. Torchwick looked at his cohorts and sighed.

"Step away from Emerald and Mercury, Torchwick." Ruby said, her scythe already fully extended and leveled behind her, primed to strike. He looked at her confusedly, then realization dawned on his face.

"She can't be serious." Mercury smirked, looking at Emerald and cocking his head as he kicked one foot up against the wall behind him.

"Oh come _on_ Red! This is just too _good_." Roman said, chuckling to himself. "Don't you get it? I didn't bring them here, they came here, with me, on a dust plane." Weiss looked at Emerald and Mercury speculatively. They didn't have any binds on their hands, and Mercury seemed as relaxed and cocky as ever. They certainly didn't look like two people who had been taken hostage or otherwise been forced here against their will.

"Ruby," She warned her partner. "I don't think they're going to be helping us."

"Yeah, I got it." Ruby said, and Weiss didn't miss edge of hurt in her partner's voice. She didn't blame her leader. Weiss herself couldn't help but feel the betrayal clawing at her stomach, making her want to puke or just stare dumbly at the two people she had come to know so well over the past few years.

_Or apparently not_. A small voice nagged at her in the back of her mind.

"I gotta say," Mercury said, stepping forward as his boots clicked into place. "I am _so_ glad that we don't have to play buddy buddy anymore. That was getting annoying."

"Tell me about it." Emerald said, rolling her eyes.

"I mean please, finding information out about the top teams at Beacon I get. Befriending them to really get to know the gritty details, I get too. But seriously, I didn't know one group of friends could be so..." Mercury paused and looked towards the ceiling, as though struggling to find a word. "Just so _boring_." He sneered.

Weiss' stomach twisted in anger as she looked at the pair. She had never been quick to trust, but with those two, she had gone out on a limb. She had let them into her world without the slightest idea who they were. She hadn't even ever found out which school they had claimed to attend before Beacon. She had been stupid. Her father was right; trust brought nothing but trouble. Weiss unsheathed Myrtenaster, leveling it at the group of outlaws. Around her the rest of the party did the same, all weapons unsheathed.

"So it's going to be that way, huh? You know, after so long, I was hoping for a warmer welcome." Torchwick continued talking, but Weiss ignored him. Instead, she studied the other people in the room, trying to pick up on any flaw or weakness. "Well, what are you waiting for you ingrates? Get 'em!" Roman shouted, and the White Fang dashed at them. There were six of the faunus, plus Emerald, Mercury, Torchwick and Neo. The part of her mind that had been hardwired for combat shouted at her that they were outnumbered and that their opponents were probably just as skilled as they were. Weiss shut off that part of her mind though, tensing herself as the White Fang lieutenant she had fought so long ago charged her.

Weiss rolled under the first ridiculously long swing of his chainsaw, leaping away from him and summoning a sigil in front of herself. She landed of the white glyph, then dived off it to strike her adversary in the back. She landed the attack, and rolled to her feet as she hit the ground. Before she could turn to push her advantage though, she found herself face to face with a short, partially pink and partially brown haired girl. Neo. Without Weiss registering a movement from her new opponent, she saw umbrella stabbing towards her chest. Weiss managed to jerk away from the blow, but Neo pressed in, sweeping low at her legs. Weiss blocked the attack, then took a half step forward as she lunged at Neo, her sword extended. It was a well placed strike, quick and efficient, but Neo was faster. The other girl simply leaned to the side, twisting so the blade passed in front of her chest, then brought the handle of her umbrella up and hooked it into Myrtenaster's guard. Neo tugged on her umbrella and Weiss stumbled past. She turned around to see Yang engage the short thief, and two of the other White Fang members stepped in front of Weiss.

The first jumped at her, swinging for her neck. Weiss dropped low and brought her rapier above her at an angle. The other sword slid down the length of her own, and Weiss brought Myrtenaster around to land a quick rap on the faunus' back. The hit left her open to attack though, and pain exploded in Weiss' shoulder. She twisted to put distance between herself and her attacker, finding the second White Fang operative drawing his arm back to charge her. His friend was standing again. Weiss brought her hilt up next to her face, the blade pointing at her attackers, waiting for the cylinder under her guard to click into purple. She tensed herself, sunk a half inch lower in her stance, then readied herself to leap forward.

"Ice flower!" She heard the call from behind her, and Weiss stopped herself from attacking. Immediately, as if operating by itself, Weiss' opposite hand came up and three glyphs appeared in front of her. Weiss heard four shots sound off, and each of Ruby's bullets found a mark. Four crystals of ice blossomed from the joints of the two White Fang, and they fell to the ground, unable to move. All those hours working on team attacks had indeed been useful.

Weiss turned and jumped through the air, knowing that Ruby would have been left vulnerable while she shot and that surely one of their adversaries would try to take advantage of her. Sure enough, the faunus with the chainsaw was already sweeping his oversized weapon at her head. Weiss tensed herself to jump into action, but she knew it was futile. She was too far away.

"Ruby!" She shouted, trying to warn the girl, but Ruby seemed unfazed. The chainsaw was descending towards her neck, and Weiss' heart skipped a beat, sure that her leader, her partner, probably her best friend, was about to be killed.

There was a loud clang, and Weiss looked in shock as Jaune slid in from outside her field of view and raised his shield, the chainsaw ricocheting off the solid metal. Jaune whirled around, bringing his sword up into the neck of the lieutenant, but it didn't break the masked man's aura. Weiss turned away, confident that her partner was in good hands, and saw Blake attack Torchwick. Blake had always been a skilled fighter, and over the years, she had become almost masterful. Now though, she was missing her weapon, and it put her at a severe disadvantage. Weiss could tell that her friend was losing against the thief.

Weiss summoned a glyph on the ground below her and it glowed red, then black, launching her through the air. As she dropped, she saw Roman punch Blake in the face and her friend stumble backwards. Weiss twirled her sword around so it was pointing down, poised to dig into Torchwick's shoulder. The thief looked up as she flew towards the ground though, and managed to get his cane up in time. Nonetheless, the force of the blow knocked him back a step, and Blake hurdled over Weiss, bringing her sheath down towards Roman. He was on the defensive, and Weiss dashed up beside her teammate and slashed at Torchwick, who was busy blocking a strike from Blake. She hit his side, but his aura stopped her from doing any damage. Her next strike was blocked, but it allowed Blake to get a hit in on his knee. The thief grunted in pain and hopped back, trying to put distance between himself and the two girls. They didn't let him recover though, the both of them lunging forward simultaneously and slashing at him.

In the back of her head though, Weiss' mind was whirring. They continued pressing Torchwick back, but she was forgetting something. She and Ruby had incapacitated two of the White Fang, but she hadn't seen anyone else take out another member of the opposition. Weiss feigned a blow at Torchwick's knee, but came up short and spun backwards around Blake, scanning the room as she moved. Yang was currently punching the tar out of the chainsaw guy. Nora, Ren and Ruby were occupying the other White Fang and Pyrrha and Jaune were squaring off against Emerald and Mercury. Weiss cursed mentally. Despite no one having taken her out of the fight, Weiss couldn't see Neo anywhere. She finished her spin, coming up on the other side of Blake. Torchwick's chest was open, so Weiss lunged forward and stabbed him in the chest. His aura stopped her blade from piercing his heart, but he went flying backwards into the wall. Or what Weiss thought was the wall.

As Torchwick connected with what looked like solid stone, he crashed through it and the entire back wall seemed to shatter into glass shards, revealing that the real wall was another five feet or so behind where the image had been. It stood, exactly as it had looked before, except with twenty or so Atlesian Knights in front of it, all with long menacing guns held aloft. In the center of the reinforcements stood Neo, her umbrella clasped between her two hands, smiling warmly at Weiss and Blake. Torchwick stood up off the ground, groaning.

"I just had this suit pressed." He griped. The remainder of Torchwick's original troops broke off from their opponents behind Weiss, and she turned just in time to see them run past. The sounds of combat stopped as everyone realized what had happened. "Anyhow," Torchwick said slyly, "Having a henchm-ow!" Next to him Neo rapped her cane against his shin. "Alright, henchwom-ow! Come on! Fine, having a _cohort," _Roman stared pointedly at Neo who just grinned. "That can teleport comes in handy. Say hello to the Atlesian knight 200. A handful of them with these babies," The thief patted one of the guns that the drones were carrying. "Can mow down a horde of Grimm in seconds. I wonder how long your auras will hold up against them."

Weiss backed away until she was standing next to the rest of her party, tensed and ready to leap into action at a moment's notice.

"Don't bother," Jaune said beside her. "We could take the droids, but not with that many guns already pointed at our heads." He threw his sword and shield onto the ground, and the rest of them followed suit.

"So we understand each other then?" Roman asked theatrically. "Good. Now, I'm not just going to have them shoot you to death. That would be boring and hardly what I have in mind for those who put me in prison. Do you know how awful prison is? So bland and unexciting." He grinned at them. "No, I have a much, _much_ better idea for the lot of you." He turned towards a few of the drones at that point. "Cuff them, and make sure they're tight. We're going to show our guests our new pets!"


	7. Captured

Blake kept her eyes focused on Torchwick, her insides boiling as they were lead through a series of hallways until they came to a hatch in the floor. One of the White Fang opened it, and Blake felt a gun prod her in the back, forcing her forward. Around her, her friends were suffering a similar fate, each being shoved forward towards the hole in the ground. Giving Torchwick a venomous look, Blake hopped into the hole. It was only a big enough drop for them to end up in a tunnel underneath the ancient floorboards of the scouting outpost. The ground was slanted downwards in a spiral, and they were led deep underground until the dirt of the tunnel gave way to smooth, white stone.

"What is it with you guys and being underground?" Yang posed the question to no one in particular. One of the drones smacked its gun into her side for her comment, and Blake felt her anger flare up once more and she took an unconscious step towards her partner.

A sharp pain erupted on her shoulder and the force of the blow sent her to her knees. She stood weakly once more, glaring at Torchwick, who had his cane leveled for another blow. Their eyes locked, and he smiled. Blake wanted to do something stupid, but with her hands cuffed behind her back and her sheath in the hands of one of the White Fang, there was little she could do, so she just glared at him, seething. The rage was boiling inside her, making her breaths coming short and fast.

Torchwick and his crew took them through a veritable labyrinth of white halls until they were shoved through a door. Blake stumbled through it and looked around her. They were in a massive concrete room shaped like a cylinder. High above them she could see two large steel hangar doors, and there were walkways spiraling down from the top in a corkscrew pattern. Blake tried to look over the edge of the walkway they were on, but before she got a good look below them, she was pulled backwards and shoved down the slanted ramp they were on. Blake closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. She should be trying to map out the inside of the base right now to plan their escape, but every time she tried to focus, a thought of the bowler wearing thief would sneak into her mind and anger would flare through her, clearing her mind of all rational thought.

Roman Torchwick was standing a few feet away from her. She should be fighting him right now, doing everything she could to stop him, but he had beaten them. How had she let that happen? She had trained for four years so that she would never have to lose again, so that when it mattered, she would be able to overcome her adversaries and protect the world.

_The world really isn't like a fairy tale is it? Even when we try our best, we fail._ She thought to herself spitefully.

They walked for what must have been a half hour until they came to the bottom of the pit, and Blake's breath caught in her throat. Trapped behind plates of reinforced glass were Grimm.

Grimm in captivity.

Professor Port had gone over a lesson once, when he was not ranting about his own exploits, about how it was impossible to ensnare the Grimm. Even if someone managed to cage them, they would die soon afterwards. Yet there they were, dozens of Grimm locked in cages. Blake forgot her anger momentarily, awe overcoming her hatred.

"How?" Weiss whispered from beside her. Blake looked around to see shock plastered on the faces of all her friends.

"Isn't it marvelous?" Torchwick said with a laugh. "Bet they didn't teach you about this in school."

"This shouldn't be possible." It was Jaune talking this time. Blake would have said something herself, but her mind was reeling, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

"It's more than possible. It's actually quite simple. It's too bad that your schools have so many quarrels with the moral uses of dust, or we might have discovered _this_ a long time ago." Roman withdrew a phial from his suit coat. It had what looked like dust in it, but rather than the usual shades of blue, green, red or yellow, it was black. Blake had never seen black dust before.

"What is that?" Jaune asked him.

"This is the finest discovery made in the past century. A new form of dust that, when-"

"Roman!" A voice barked from behind them. A feminine voice that spoke of authority and power, one that commanded attention. "Do please shut up." Blake turned to see a stunning woman strutting towards them. She had long charcoal hair and burning reddish yellow eyes. She had soft, elegant features, but a hard glint in her eyes that dispelled all thoughts of fragility. She was wearing a red dress that swept over her thighs and hugged her torso tightly. Her heels, made of red glass, clinked slightly as she walked, and Blake was immediately set on edge. This woman exuded power, and Blake knew instinctively that she was dangerous.

"Come on, it's not like they're going to be alive for long enough for it to matter." He chuckled. "I wanted them to know how the kingdom is going to crumble. They deserve to die knowing that everything they love is going to be destroyed." Torchwick's voice had lost its joking edge, hardening into bitter hatred.

"You asked that, when the time came, you were the one to kill them. I agreed, but I never said that you could divulge all of our new discoveries." She chastised, the authority in her voice almost making Blake shrink back.

"Hey," Ruby said, and Blake turned to her leader. Ruby's brow was furrowed as she looked at the newcomer. "I know you."

"Mm, that's right." The woman said, stalking up to Ruby to look her in the eyes, staring down at the shorter cloaked girl. "We've met three times in fact." Her voice was disinterested, lofty and smooth as velvet, but with an undercurrent of ice.

"You're the one who was in the dust plane the night that I stopped Torchwick from robbing that dust shop." Ruby's voice trailed off, like she was trying to remember something. "It was you, that night at the dance wasn't it? You were at Beacon too. I ran into you in the hallway."

"Very good." The woman's voice held a hint of humor now, but still flowed smoother than a clear river during the summer. "You'd be surprised how easy it is to forge transcripts. Just ask your friend Jaune if you don't believe me." Blake looked at her friend curiously, unsure of what the woman meant. Behind Ruby, Pyrrha took a step forward, her shoulders tensed. Blake willed her friend to stand down

"My name is Cinder," The woman added after a pause, looking at Pyrrha behind Ruby, smiling devilishly at her. She looked Ruby up and down one more time like a wolf looking at a lamb, then walked up to stare into Pyrrha's eyes. The two woman were about the same height, and stared at each other, Pyrrha's eyes hard and jaded, while Cinder's were uncaring and cold. The two locked eyes for a long moment, and Blake just hoped that Pyrrha wouldn't make an irrational decision. The Mystralian huntress was normally calm, level headed and smart, but when it came to Jaune she could be quick to act and slow to think. "And you must be Pyrrha Nikos. The invincible girl." Cinder drawled, breaking the long, thick silence. "I've been told you can't be killed, that no one can even touch you." Cinder raised her hand, and Blake caught a glint of light bouncing off of something in her hand. The woman in the red dress laid her hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, and Blake saw the redhead's shoulders tense. She wondered if it was out of anger, but it didn't look like it. It almost looked like pain. "What good is it being invincible if you can't save those around you? What happens when your power betrays you?" Cinder's voice had taken on a note of interest for the first time, as though she was challenging Pyrrha somehow. Blake saw the stress in Pyrrha's posture, but thankfully, her friend stayed still and silent.

"Great, everyone knows each other." The thief gripped, breaking the silence. "Now can I kill them?" Torchwick's voice was full of irritation and impatience.

"Have your way with them." The woman replied, finally breaking eye contact with and stepping away from Pyrrha. "Though might I suggest the Beowolves? They'll last longer and die slower in there."

The woman's heels clinked as she walked away, and Blake watched her go. Relief flushed her system as the woman disappeared around the corner. Her presence had offset the dark haired faunus, and Blake was much happier with her gone, even if it was next to the outlaw that she hated more than anyone else. The way she was talking to Torchwick stuck in her mind though. Her tone suggested that she was the one who was in charge, not him. Her train of thought was broken by a sharp rap from the butt of a gun on her back. She stumbled forward, and without a word, Torchwick turned and started leading them down the hallway until they reached a steel door.

"Now, Cinder thinks it would be fun to watch you squirm under the assault of the Beowolves, but I have another idea." He punched a code into a keypad on the wall, and the door slid back to reveal a circular room, perhaps a hundred meters from end to end. The floor was covered with white, salty sand, and the walls were made of metal panels. Blake felt one of her escorts grab her hands roughly. There were a few clinks, and she felt the cuffs around her hands fall off. She immediately tried to turn and bring her elbow up into the temple of the guard, but two strong hands clamped around her arms like vices. She struggled but couldn't move. Blake looked over to see the rest of her team looking uneasily at their guards, but not moving. The hands clamped around her arms threw her forward, and Blake fell into the circular room. She rolled and came out in a low crouch, facing her adversaries. She locked eyes with Ruby, and her leader just shook her head. There were dozens of White Fang in the hallways with the other seven members of her group, and there was no way they could fight them without their weapons.

The rest of her team was shoved forward, followed by team JNPR. Once they were all inside, Blake saw one of the faunus emerge from the crowd and throw a pile of weapons onto the ground. She recognized Myrtenaster and Crescent Rose, then realized that it was all of their weapons. Blake spotted her sheath and dove forward, scooping it out of the pile and rolling back to her feet before charging at the door. She saw Torchwick make for the keypad, and threw her sheath at him. If he closed those doors, there was no way they would get out of that room. Her sheath flew through the air, but a split second before it made contact with Torchwick, a metal sheet shot across the door and her weapon clanged uselessly off of it.

"No!" She screamed, sliding to her knees as she came to a stop. They were trapped. A moment later, she felt Yang lay a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, we need to find out how to get out of here."

"Hey everyone, maybe now would be a good time to lock and load." Ruby called from where their weapons had been tossed. Blake stood and turned around to see the far wall sliding open slowly, red lights flashing and sirens blaring.

The metal slid back with a loud creak, slowly revealing a shadowed chamber behind the main room. Blake saw something glowing inside, her faunus eyes picking out the details before any of her teammates could. The floating, glowing object was shaped a bit like a teardrop, but with a long pointed end. Blake squinted as she looked at it and dim light washed into the auxiliary room from the main chamber. She saw a lot of legs, a flat back covered in plated bone, and a multi eyed face. Realization started to dawn as more light began to flood into the narrow opening.

"Deathstalker!" She yelled, and the metal panel slid back the rest of the way, making a loud _clang_ as it settled. The Grimm stayed in the dark for a moment, its tail swishing back and forth like the arm of a grandfather clock. Blake was confused. The way Torchwick had talked, she had been expecting something a bit more... Dangerous. She had met Deathstalkers before, all of them had, and they was hardly a threat. Deathstalkers were one of the more dangerous species of Grimm, but they had trained for four years to kill those monsters. Each of them could dispatch one by themselves without much of a problem.

"Just a Deathstalker? Yang asked in confusion, scratching her head. Her wristlets were not even snapped into combat position.

"I doubt it's that simple." Jaune answered, his voice low and carrying a hard edge.

Blake looked at the creature again, raking her eyes across it. It was the same size as other Deathstalkers, it had all the same features, the same bony armor and the same glowing red eyes. As it stepped into the light though, she saw something glinting between the armored plates covering its skin. Long streaks of shiny black crystals ran down its back, hardly noticeable next to its shadowy skin, but definitely there.

"What is it?" She asked Jaune, but he just shrugged at her. Next to the blond, Pyrrha dropped into a combat stance. Blake wasn't sure what they were dealing with, so she followed her friend's lead.

The creature paused as it saw them, and its massive pincers clacked together in front of its mouth. Its talons punched up and down as it turned from side to side, identifying the threats around it, spraying sand all over. Blake kept her eyes locked on the monster as it surveyed its surroundings. Its tail stopped moving, dropping low as if it was ready to strike. Blake tensed herself and waited, knowing that it would attack any second and- 

/ 

The tail shot through the air faster than Pyrrha would have thought possible. She barely managed to bring her shield up in time, only able to deflect the blow. Usually, she would have been able to counter, maybe slash at the weak point where the stinger connected to the tail, but her sword shoulder was throbbing. When that woman, Cinder, had touched her shoulder, it had felt like she had stabbed Pyrrha. She hadn't said anything or even allowed herself to grunt in pain, but the pain had been growing since that moment. Now, even the slightest movement sent pain shooting through her body.

Pyrrha saw a claw cutting through the air towards her, and twisted to catch the blow on her shield again. The claw never made contact though, and Pyrrha saw Nora fly through the air. She looked in shock at the claw hovering where her friend had been no earlier than a fraction of a second ago. Ren took off to where Nora was lying facedown in the sand, and Pyrrha watched the claw warily. No Grimm should have been able to move like that. They weren't that fast.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune called from behind her, and Pyrrha turned as she raised her shield. She didn't see the claw that rammed into her shield, but it sent her flying backwards. She rolled backwards, coming up in a low lunge, braced for the next impact. She looked at the Grimm, and it seemed to shimmer, then she heard a loud _thunk_ next to her ear. She saw Jaune rolling away and the creature's stinger bouncing off his shield. She had not even seen it move, and yet it had almost struck her. Pyrrha got into a defensive stance, her finest senses tuned on the Deathstalker, her body buzzing with the combat instincts she had developed over the better part of a decade and a half.

There was a streak of red, and Pyrrha heard the creature screech in pain as Ruby rematerialized on the other side of it. This Grimm was fast, but Ruby was still faster. Ruby was always faster, and Pyrrha smiled. If they could keep the monster's attention on them, Ruby would be able to wear it down and kill it. Pyrrha spared a moment to glance at where Nora had fallen. The orange haired girl was on her knees, and Ren had one hand clasped in one of hers and the other on her back. Pyrrha turned her attention back to the Deathstalker once more, seeing that there wasn't any lasting damage. Nora was probably a little shaken up, but Pyrrha knew that her friend could take much more heat than that.

"Heads and shields up!" Yang yelled from behind Pyrrha, and she dropped to her knee immediately while she raised her shield above her head. She felt the blonde land on Akuo and she pushed off from the ground, hearing Yang's wristlets firing into the ground and launching her through the air. The force of Yang jumping had pressed Pyrrha into the sand, and she looked up to see the creature's head follow Yang's trajectory. Pyrrha threw her shield at the beast's face, and held out her arm in case she needed to adjust Akuo's trajectory. The shield flew true though, slashing against one of the creature's eyes before being deflected upwards. Pyrrha reached out with her hand, trying to feel the familiar magnetic pull of her shield, but she couldn't sense the metal. She frowned, but did not have time to think about it as she caught a flicker of motion in the corner of her eye. Pyrrha dove forward and sand exploded from where she had been a split second ago. There was a thunderous boom as Yang landed her blow, and Pyrrha heard a grunt of effort from behind her followed by a hiss of pain from the Grimm, and Pyrrha knew that Ruby had landed another blow.

"Ruby! Stop!" Jaune called, and Pyrrha looked at her partner with confusion. Pyrrha trusted her leader, and would follow his orders to whatever end without question, but she didn't understand why he would tell the leader of team RWBY to stop. Ruby was their best way of killing the monster. Her train of thought was cut short as she saw Akuo a few feet away from her and dove for the shield. She scooped it up and flipped it around into her hand. She turned, assuming the the Grimm would be trying to hit her, and was rewarded by a hard hit against her shield. Pyrrha grimaced in pain as she flipped Milos around her wrist and caught it again, her shoulder shrieking in complaint. She aimed the rifle at the creature's eyes, shooting three times, but the pain in her shoulder made it shake, and her aim was off, and her shots did nothing but annoy the monster. The Grimm turned its attention to her, and then its head moved so it was looking behind her. Pyrrha's brow furrowed, and she risked looking behind her. Nora and Ren were there, just straggling to their feet.

"Ren!" Pyrrha shouted, and his eyes shot up to see the Grimm. He stepped in front of Nora, but before he even had time to draw his twin pistols he was swept aside by a swift slash from on of its claws. Nora raised her grenade launcher and aimed it at the Grimm and one of the orange haired girl's heavy rounds punched through the air and hit the Deathstalker. It roared in rage as Nora twirled her weapon in front of her as it transformed into a massive battle hammer.

"Nora! Watch out!" Pyrrha yelled, trying to warn her of how quick the creature was, but the bubbly girl didn't seem to hear her. Pyrrha saw the other girl grit her teeth to ward off the pain she was obviously feeling, and Nora leapt into the air, bringing her hammer high above her head. Pyrrha had seen the girl flatten both heads of a Tajitu with a similar blow before, but as Nora fell through the air, the Deathstalker's tail struck out like the head of a snake and pierced her side. Pyrrha squeezed her eyes shut as her friend yelled in pain. She opened them again to see Nora drop into the sand like a doll. The stinger was still above her head though, and Pyrrha took aim with her shield. If she could hit the spot where the tail connected with the stinger, she could sever it. She would have preferred to weaken it with her javelin first, but her sword arm was pulsing with sharp pain and was basically useless. Pyrrha threw her shield with all her strength. She held two fingers up after it, trying to direct it into the soft spot, but once again, she could not feel her shield. She watched as it clanged into the beast's armored tail and glanced off it. Her shield went spinning away and Pyrrha dove to the side as the stinger landed where she had just been. Sand showered her, and Pyrrha threw her gun into her shield hand. She flipped it around her wrist until she caught it as a sword. She wasn't as skilled with her non-dominant hand, but she could make do with her sword. She realized that she was only a few feet from the monster, and its full attention was on her. She was inside its guard, so there was no threat from its claws, but Pyrrha was more worried about the gnashing pincers in front of her face.

Without a shield, Pyrrha knew she could not back away. She would not be able to block any of the attacks from its large claws with her sword, and she did not trust herself to dodge one of the Grimm's attacks with how fast and strong it was. She acted on her only option then, and ran straight at the Deathstalker. When she was a step in front of it, the creature opened its pincers wide, and Pyrrha jumped as it lunged towards her. She landed on top of its mouth and slashed out at the large, orange, beady eye next to her left hand. She felt her sword slice cleanly through the organ, then she ran along its back, leaping off by its second set of legs where Jaune was talking to Blake. She rolled out of her move, and heard Yang yell on the other side of the Deathstalker followed by the sound of some of Yang's explosive rounds detonating. The blonde would likely be able to hold the beast for a moment, and Pyrrha needed to know what her leader was planning. Jaune looked up at her as she rolled to her feet next to him.

"Listen Pyrrha," He said, his words rushed. Pyrrha did not blame him. As they were in the heat of battle, he had to talk fast. "We need this thing to break open that door. Whatever this is, its way stronger than any normal Grimm should be. I want you to distract it with Yang and Ruby, but whatever happens, do not cut off any of its limbs. Blake's going to get in front of the door, then draw its attention. When it lashes out at her, she'll leave a clone in her place then jump out of the way."

"It hits the door," Blake added, "Then we can run." Her voice was steady, despite the fact that if the slightest thing went awry she would likely end up seriously injured, or worse, dead.

Pyrrha nodded at Jaune then dashed around the backside of the oversized scorpion. She ran through the Grimm's blind spot, and heard Ruby call out to her. She looked up to see the younger student with Akuo in her hand. Ruby tossed the shield, and Pyrrha lunged forward to catch it. She tried to use her semblance to pull the shield onto her wrist while she flipped her sword into her other arm again, but the shield just clattered to the ground. Pyrrha knew she had a brief moment, and decided to test her fears, reaching out towards her shield and trying to feel the metal.

Nothing.

For one of the few times in her life, an uneasy feeling twisted through Pyrrha's gut. She bent down and picked up her shield normally, aware now that her semblance was not going to serve her anymore. She continued running after her pause, coming out by the beast's back set of legs. She reached her sword out to slash the limb, but pain shot through her body from her shoulder. Pyrrha fell to her knees and tried to stifle the gasp of pain that escaped her lips. She kept moving though. In a flash she was on her feet again, hitting the talon with her shield instead of Milos. She flipped backwards as the stinger landed where she had just been, the massive Grimm twisting around to look at her. Pyrrha saw Yang on the other side of the Deathstalker raising one of her fists to shoot at the soft spot on the Grimm's tail.

"Just distract it!" Pyrrha yelled, and Yang paused, confusion flashing across her face. The expression passed quickly though, and Yang fired at the armor plates on the beast's head. It screeched and turned to her, and Pyrrha lunged in, bashing her shield into a leg. It twisted back towards her, its stinger poised to strike. Pyrrha started to raise her shield, but before it was halfway over her head, a wall of ice sprung into existence in front of her. The stinger crashed through the wall as it appeared, showering Pyrrha with shards of ice. Pyrrha expected her aura to stop the sharp flecks from cutting her, but small cuts opened up on her arms and didn't heal over. The deadly appendage got stuck in the ice above Pyrrha though, and the Grimm was forced to retract it. Pyrrha glanced to the side to see Weiss with her sword plunged into the ground. The ground between them had small spikes of ice sprouting from it. Weiss nodded at her, then turned back to the two people behind her. It was Nora and Ren. Weiss must have been helping Ren stabilize Nora. She was the best with dust after all, and if any of them could get the energetic girl moving again, it would be her. Guilt shot through Pyrrha's stomach as she pictured the beast's stinger puncturing her friend's stomach. Nora had not even been able to activate her aura to stop it. Pyrrha should have done something to stop it.

Pyrrha heard the Deathstalker shuffle slightly, and she did a back handspring. Her reverie was broken as the Deathstalker shattered the wall of ice that had save her life a moment before. Pyrrha looked behind her as she flipped through the air and saw that Blake was almost in position. She dropped her sword and kicked it towards the faunus, who scooped it up and flipped it around. Pyrrha turned back to face the Deathstalker just in time to see a claw coming straight for her. She managed to duck behind her shield, but as the blow landed, Pyrrha was launched into the air. She came to an abrupt halt as she smashed into the wall next to the door, and she saw that Blake was standing in front of the steel hatch with Milos hoisted in rifle form. Pyrrha's friend took aim, and let loose a volley of shots. One of the green rounds hit the beast in the eye, and an ear shattering howl split the air, making Pyrrha's ears ring. It turned its full attention to Blake, and took two short steps towards her. Pyrrha could hear a long hiss coming from its mouth, and it walked up in front of the raven haired girl, towering over her. Pyrrha saw it twitch slightly, and then the world seemed to slow as its stinger slashed towards Blake. It shot through the girl's body and crashed into the steel door behind her. There was a slight motion on the other side of the beast's tail, and Pyrrha was relieved to see that Blake was standing just to the side of where the deadly needle-like tail had struck. There was a slight line of red running across the bare skin that was exposed under her shirt, but it didn't look deep. Her shadow clone disappeared, and the Deathstalker howled in rage, realizing that its prey had eluded it.

"Lead it away from the entrance!" Weiss shouted, and Pyrrha looked at the heiress. She and Ren were supporting Nora from either shoulder and they were making their way along the edge of the circle. Nora looked pale, but she was breathing. That was the important part, the rest they could figure out later. Pyrrha turned back to Blake and saw her gun flying through the air. Pyrrha caught it, flinching as pain lanced down her arm, then forced her arm to move one last time to strap the gun to her back. She saw Jaune slice one of its hind legs. Next to him there was a flash of red and a spurt of black blood.

The Deathstalker whirled around, shrieking, then bringing one of its claws down at the two young hunters, but Jaune had already raised his shield. The blow was deflected harmlessly away, and Ruby dashed under the beast to slash at its far leg. It didn't seem to mind her though, bringing its stinger down towards Jaune, who only barely managed to roll out of the way.

"Ruby, go! I'll lead it to the far side then meet you at the entrance." Ruby had stilled as he talked, and Jaune dove to the side as a leg crashed down where he had just been. "Now!" He yelled, and in a flash, Ruby was beside Pyrrha. The two made their way over to where Nora was being escorted by Ren and Weiss. They moved as quickly as they dared, and Nora's breathing was coming in short breaths. Sweat was beading on the girl's brow, and blood was staining her cheery attire.

"Come on!" Yang shouted from next to the doorway, and Pyrrha ducked in between Weiss and Nora.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Weiss demanded, but Pyrrha ignored her, sweeping Nora's legs up into one arm and catching her shoulders with the other. Pyrrha's shoulder screamed in rebellion, but she was determined not to let her friend fall. She dashed forward, handing her friend off to Yang as she reached the door. Her arm gave out just as Yang slung Nora's arm around her shoulder and started walking through the twisted metal. Pyrrha looked back and ushered Ren, Weiss and Ruby into the corridor on the other side. She ducked through the rent metal that used to be a door and looked back towards Jaune, opening her mouth to call back to him that they were ready to leave, but the words died in her mouth as Pyrrha's heart sunk.

Jaune was standing on the far side of the room, his back pressed up against the wall and blood trickling down his leg from a gash in his upper thigh. And the Deathstalker?

The Deathstalker was standing directly between Jaune and the exit, stinger primed and claws snapping.

/

**Whew. That chapter was a bit longer, and a bit more intense! We're finally starting to see a bit of how Cinder is pulling off her scheme and a few hints as to what said scheme might be! This was honestly a lot more fun to write than some of the other chapters, and I'll be honest, I'm feeling very conflicted about this story and whether or not to keep writing. It's just felt very slow, and I don't feel like I'm writing to my best ability. On the other hand, this chapter was a lot of fun, and I got to throw in my first kind-of cliff hangar. Pyrrha's losing control of her semblance and aura, Nora's severely injured, they've encountered some new breed of Grimm, and Jaune has a massive supernaturally powerful Grimm between himself and his only escape. Wonder how they'll all get out, or if they all will. **

**Anyways, thank you so much for reading! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and the next one should be out within a week! As always, comments, thoughts, criticisms or just plain old reviews are more than welcome and are always helpful and appreciated! Hope you're enjoying the story so far!**

**-Unjax**


	8. Escape (and a farewell)

The radio crackled in the pilot's ear, and he dialed a knob next to his joystick, clearing up the signal.

"You see anything yet?" His co-pilot, who was currently stationed in the holding bay of the dust plane, questioned him.

"Nah, nothing but some dusty old ruins and a boat load of Grimm." He replied, twisting the plane around so that he could look back down at the seething mass of Grimm below them. The sight would have been breathtaking if it had not been so terrifying. He had never seen so many of the creatures in one place at any given time, and he had no idea what they were doing out here in the middle of nowhere. There were no villages or settlements for leagues around the old outpost, so they were not there for hunting or anything of the sort. As far as he could tell, there _was_ no reason for them to be there. He was just thankful that none of them were arial Grimm, or he would have been forced to flee ten minutes ago when he had arrived.

"Let's check by the forest again, maybe they're on the fringe."

"If they aren't in that outpost, there's no way we're ever going to find them. It was supposed to be a pretty simple mission, drop in then get to extraction, no complications. They weren't even given flares or anything. If they're in the forest, they'll have to find another way back to Beacon." Nonetheless, he turned the plane back around, letting them hover back towards the forest line.

"Yeah, that would be fun." The co-pilot's voice crackled through the mic. They hovered over the calm pink and red trees that made up the forest for a few minutes.

"Anything?" He asked, knowing the answer before his partner replied.

"Nah, I don't see the kids anywhere. How much fuel do we have?" He checked the gauge in the centre of the dashboard.

"Damn," He cursed looking into it, then clicked the button that activated his radio. "We've got maybe twenty minutes before we'll run out of fuel. After that, there's nothing we can do."

The radio went quiet for a moment, and he knew his partner was thinking the same thing he was. As experienced pilots, they didn't just shuttle people around the kingdom on established routes. They were the ones called upon to do the dangerous missions, and when they flew people out of the guarded borders of Vale, they didn't always return.

"Let's hope those kids do whatever they're gonna do fast." He said, but there was no conviction in his words. He sighed, spinning the plane back around to the ruins.

_Come on,_ He willed silently. They were still students, and he was hoping against hope that they would make it. 

/ 

Pyrrha looked at her partner, fear snaking its icy fingers around her throat. Jaune looked at her from between the beast's legs, and their eyes locked. He was far away, but Pyrrha knew he was looking at her. She heard him yell in rage and dash at the Deathstalker. Pyrrha's heart jumped into her throat as the beast's massive claw smashed into the ground, sending up a shower of sand that obscured her view. A flicker of movement off to the side caught her eye, and Pyrrha saw Jaune rolling to his feet. He huffed as he stood back up, and then suddenly he was flying backwards into the wall again. The Grimm clacked its pincers in victory, that massive, deadly stinger poised for another strike. Pyrrha's breath caught in her throat as she looked at the motionless body across the room. Her eyes were locked, unable to move from the picture of Jaune motionless on the sand.

"Pyrrha, we need to go now!" Yang grabbed her shoulder, but her voice seemed distant to Pyrrha, like Yang was screaming through water. It was muffled, only a slight distraction, and it did nothing but give Pyrrha the slightest of distraction from the horror in front of her. She felt the other girl pulling on her arm, but Pyrrha didn't turn away from Jaune, willing her partner to twitch, to breath, to give the slightest sign that he was alive. The Grimm reared up, screeching as it brought its stinger down for the final blow. Pyrrha watched the deadly point descend towards her partner, and then she saw it. It was faint, but there was a slight glimmer of aura condensing above Jaune's head. Pyrrha let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as the stinger bounced off his aura, skittering to the side.

Jaune looked at Pyrrha from his place lying in the sand, and her stomach churned in fear. He looked at her, then his eyes shifted to the Deathstalker above him. His shoulders went from slumped to set, and even from where she was, Pyrrha could see his jaw set. He yelled again, springing to his feet as though he hadn't been touched. A white corona of energy flared up around him, and Jaune dashed directly at the Grimm. It's pincers gnashed as it looked at him. It brought a claw up, bared threateningly over him. It brought the claw down on Jaune, but it connected with a swirling, white bubble of energy before it could hit Jaune. The force of the blow forced him to his knees, but he stood back up and continued charging. Next came the primed stinger, stabbing towards her partner faster than her eyes could follow, but it stopped a few inches from him. He growled in anger, the thin, deadly point pressing him into the ground, trying to break through his aura. The white energy flickered, and the stinger snuck closer to Jaune's throat. He roared, bringing his sword up and smashing into the appendage. He continued moving towards the door, his aura still flaring around him like the flames of a star fallen to Remnant. He dashed under the beast's stomach, sprinting towards his friends, his arms pumping for all they were worth. When he was only twenty paces from them though, she saw the Deathstalker whip around, one of its claws already lashing forward to strike his back.

She screamed. She was vaguely aware of her lips forming his name, but she was not in control of her body. His aura congealed on his back reflexively. The blow landed, and Jaune rocketed through the air, smashing into the ground and sending up a spray of sand. He groaned as he rolled to a stop just outside the door. He got up, then stumbled through the twisted remains of the door, his face covered with grime and sand.

"Thanks for the boost." Jaune grumbled, looking back at the Deathstalker. Pyrrha was overcome with relief as he crossed the threshold to safety. She threw her arms around her partner, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and pressed herself against him tightly.

"Cut it a bit closer next time, Arc." Yang mock challenged.

"Nice moves." Ruby added, giving him a nervous smile, but Jaune's face was dead serious as he stepped away from Pyrrha.

"We need to get the Hell out of here and get Nora help." His voice was cold and unyielding, and everyone nodded immediately.

"Pyrrha, Jaune, you take the front. Keep your shields up. Were not out of this yet, and you can bet someone's going to try and shoot us before this is over." Pyrrha complied, moving to the front of the group and raising her shield. She saw Yang and Ren move to either side of Nora and lift her back to her feet. Pyrrha held her shield up in front of her as they began to walk through the hallways. Red lights were blaring loud alarms around them, and she knew that there was no chance of them escaping stealthily. There would be more fighting before they got out of the scouting outpost.

They heard the Deathstalker raging behind them as the moved slowly through the hallways, hampered by Nora. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever, and with each step she took, Pyrrha felt her shoulder throb. It was getting worse, the pain spreading down to her upper arms and moving into her chest. It made her breaths painful, but Pyrrha ignored it, making sure to put one foot in front of the other. If she failed now, she would leave her friends vulnerable to attack. They rounded the corner, and the Deathstalker's howls became muted by the thick walls around them. At the same time, Pyrrha heard many footsteps falling loudly on the ground. Ahead of them, a squad of Atlesian Knights dashed around the corner.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune yelled. "Get the guns!" He nodded towards the line of drones that was sprinting towards them, each with a very large gun in its hands.

"I can't!" She said quietly. Jaune looked at her with shock.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his eyes skittering from hers to her shoulder, then Milos strapped to her back.

"My polarity, it's not working." Pyrrha said, shifting uneasily under her leader's examination.

"Great," Jaune murmured from beside her.

"Hit the deck!" Ruby commanded from just behind Pyrrha, and she heard the scuffling of fabric as she dropped into a lunge, curling her body behind her shield to minimize the amount of skin she left exposed. She felt dust bullets thumping against her shield a split second before she heard the guns firing off. Pyrrha's shield was smaller than Jaune's, and left her legs exposed, but fortunately Pyrrha's leg armor deflected most of the bullets that were shot low. Still, a few of the dust rounds scraped against the side of her legs, and Pyrrha grunted in pain. She had expected her aura to deflect the shots, but they sliced through her skin. Though there were no deep wounds, Pyrrha had to fight to keep her body locked in position and not drop.

"Ruby, Ren, you're the best shots. Try to pick them off." Jaune yelled as he leaned into his shield, pushing back against the force of the bullets.

"On it." Ren answered curtly, and a moment later she heard the cracking of a gun from just behind her head. Ren's burst of fire was answered by a wave of bullets flying over Pyrrha's shield. Ren was gone by the time they shot though, already ducking behind Pyrrha once more. Ruby poked up and shot once with her rifle. A moment later something crashed to the ground ahead of Pyrrha.

"Keep moving up." Ruby said from behind her, and she and Jaune immediately each took a step forward. Bullets crashed against her shield and ricocheted into the walls around her. A few more grazed against the exposed skin on the outside of her knees, but the pain wasn't too bad. What was really hurting Pyrrha was her torso, the pain from her shoulder had coursed down over her chest, compressing it and making her feel like she had just been slammed into the ground by a Tajitu. Her sword arm was shaking involuntarily now and it felt like someone had taken heated iron and stuck it under her skin, burning all the way into her hands. Her heart pulsed, and was answered by a shock of pain shooting through her whole body. Pyrrha's vision dulled for a moment, and she slumped to he side, falling to her knees, but behind her someone grabbed her under the arms and hoisted her back up. She shook her head, staggering as the pain compressed her chest even more, but righted herself and began moving forward again.

"You alright?" Yang asked from behind her, worry clear in her voice.

"I'm fine," Pyrrha lied with her usual casual tone. Yang didn't answer, and Pyrrha was sure that her friend was not convinced. It didn't make a difference though, they needed to focus on getting out of the building now.

"On my mark, you and Jaune push forward fast. We'll break from behind you and charge the drones. Yang, you and Blake go left. Weiss and I will go right. Ren, stay here and make sure no one touches Nora." The redhead was silent for a moment, and Pyrrha tensed herself as she shuffled forward, ready to spring into action. "Now!" Ruby yelled, and Pyrrha lunged forward. She estimated she was about ten paces from the line of droids, and sure enough after two quick steps, she crashed into one of them. Pain laced through her system at the impact, but Pyrrha pushed past it, slashing out with her shield and cutting the head off one of the droids.

Pyrrha whirled backwards, seeing another of the drones swinging the butt of its gun towards where she had just been. As she spun, she saw another one try to shoot her point blank, and Pyrrha raised her shield with plenty of time to deflect the bullets. After fighting the Deathstalker where she couldn't even follow the beast's motions, this fighting seemed slow and easy. It was much easier, and Pyrrha had plenty of practice against such opponents. She hugged her injured arm against her side as she swung her shield around to block another burst of dust rounds. A drone tried to attack her from behind, but Pyrrha twirled around and hopped off one foot, her foot shooting out and smashing into the Knight's helm, caving the softer metal in. She punched the bot's throat with her shield, beheading it, then dropped to her knees as she spun, catching another blow on her shield. She pushed against the gun that had been on its way to her head, smashing into the droid that was carrying it. She pushed it off her, and it flew into one of its comrades, both crashing into the ground. Another Knight hopped over its downed allies and leveled its gun at her. Pyrrha shifted her weight, about to dive to the side, before she saw Jaune in the corner of her eye. His sword flashed out, cleaving it in two, the sparking halves fell to either side, and Pyrrha spun around, but there was nothing but a pile of broken robots around them.

"We need to move." Ren said as he raised his arms to let his twin guns fall back into his sleeves. He slid his arm around Nora's shoulders and pulled her to her feet. The girl was still conscious, but she was deathly pale, and her arm was pressing against her side. Pyrrha could imagine that the girl was in agonizing pain.

"Here," Jaune said, walking towards his teammates. "Give her to me." Ren pulled Nora's arm off of his shoulder and supported her as Jaune slid in next to the orange haired huntress in training, picking her up bridal style. Ren had always focused more on speed than strength, but Pyrrha knew that Jaune would be able to carry their teammate without much of an issue. It would let them move faster.

"Alright, let's move out." Blake said, her voice tense. Next to her, Weiss and Yang nodded. Ruby moved off at a jog, and Pyrrha ran beside the girl. Each step sent a jolt of heat streaking through her body, and Pyrrha grimaced, a bead of sweat breaking down her brow and stinging her eye.

"Drop to the back, Pyrrha." Ruby said from beside her. "I don't know what's wrong, but you're hurt. You won't do any good when we run into more of them." Pyrrha looked at the younger girl, who met her eyes sternly, then nodded. She stepped to the side, letting Weiss pass her. Pyrrha shuffled back into the line next to Jaune, who was jogging with Nora in his arms. Pyrrha's friend was curled up in the fetal position, her arms tucked against her stomach. She was shivering and sweating profusely, and fear gripped Pyrrha's stomach.

"She'll be fine." Jaune said, not the slightest hint of doubt in his voice, but Pyrrha couldn't help but doubt. "What's wrong with you?" Jaune inquired, interrupting her thoughts.

"It's nothing." She answered tersely.

"Pyrrha, you need to tell me. If you can't fight, I need to know. I don't know what I'd do if both-" Jaune's voice wavered and teetered off. Pyrrha didn't miss his thought though. They were already fighting for Nora's life. Pyrrha would gladly lay her life down to assure that the other girl would get to safety, but Jaune was right. There was still a chance that they would all make it out of here.

"Bad guys!" Yang shouted from in front of them, and the sound of several heavy explosions echoed through the narrow white hallway. Their pace hardly slowed, and a moment later, Pyrrha dashed by several of the White Fang. One was frozen in ice, three had scorch marks on their bodies and were groaning painfully, and the last one was unconscious. Pyrrha assumed the last one was Blake's doing. The shadowy faunus had always been good at silencing opponents in a stealthy manner. Blake's technique for hand to hand combat was heavily based off incapacitating opponents with as little effort as possible.

The alarms around them blared on, their pitches heightening then dropping as the group passed by, making an eery melody. Pyrrha hardly heard it though, the pain from her shoulder intruding her thoughts on every step. It was making its way through her entire body. It was in her legs now, making each short step an eternity, and making the normally ordered pacing of her run chaotic and erratic. She could feel her pulse in her head now, echoing through her skull. It pounded a drum, and her vision was starting to blur. Her breath was coming short now, her lungs filling with fire each time she inhaled and crystalizing into ice when she exhaled. Pyrrha did what she had always done though. She endured. She kept running so that her friends could reach safety, so that they wouldn't need to worry about her.

Pyrrha's world narrowed until there was nothing but her, the pain, and the ground in front of her. One step blurred into the next, and she lost track of how long she had been moving for. The icy fire consumed her body, scorching her mind and boiling her blood, then all the heat would leave, leaving her skin stone cold and covered in goosebumps. It wouldn't last in one state or another though, constantly flushing from one to the next. Pyrrha had no idea if she had been running for a few seconds or days, but she kept moving. She was aware of Jaune next to her, but he seemed like a dream, entirely out of reach and untouchable.

In front of her, Yang slowed down, and Pyrrha stumbled as she tried to stop. There were blurry shapes blocking their path. She forced her eyes to focus, and saw a group of indistinct features. She noticed that they were under the open sky now, and she was curious as to when they had reached the upper level of the tower.

_"She doesn't look that great, does she?"_ A soft voice called from the distance, and Pyrrha began to pick out more distinct details. A slim red dress embroidered with flames. A white coat. The details seemed vaguely familiar, but Pyrrha's mind felt waterlogged, like her thoughts were trying to force their way through the cloudy haze left by the pain.

_"Which one? _She_ doesn't look likes she's having fun either."_

_"Both I suppose. Now, for some reason, this looks vaguely familiar." _

The misty shapes in front of her became more distinguished as Pyrrha forced herself to look at them. It was them. Torchwick, Neo, Mercury, Emerald, Neo, and that woman, Cinder.

_"Ruby! The plane!" _Pyrrha recognized Jaune's voice.

_"Yang! Weiss! Flare!" _Pyrrha turned sluggishly to see Ruby shouting at her teammates, but she didn't understand what the girl was saying. Weiss pointed two fingers into the air over Yang's head, and three glowing golden glyphs appeared above the blonde's head. Yang shot her gauntlet into it, and the dust round seemed to take on the brilliance of the sun as it shot into the sky.

_"Dammit! Stop them!"_ Torchwick yelled. Pyrrha realized she may be in danger, and looked to Jaune. She wasn't sure what to do, her mind clouded and feeling separate from everything happening around her. It felt almost like she was watching everything happen from far away, but the small part of her mind that retained its sentience was screaming at her to run.

_"Jump!" _Jaune yelled at her, and Pyrrha heard the word as though it came through water. She saw him running for the edge of the building, and followed to move after him. She felt unbalanced, but managed not to fall as she dashed for the broken windows.

"_Get them!" _A voice called from behind them. There was a slight banging noise from behind her, and something wrapped around her shin. Pyrrha didn't have the strength to fight as something tugged on her armor. She fell to the ground, rolling, and feeling whatever had tripped her slide off her leg. She came to rest looking at the window. The only person left inside was Ruby, who slammed her foot into the ground, turning to see Pyrrha. Seemingly without moving, Ruby was next to her, and Pyrrha felt arms around her torso. The ground under them cracked as Ruby propelled them out the window, and Pyrrha watched the wall fly past her until they were falling over the ground, nothing but a mass of Grimm below them. She looked ahead as a dust plane appeared. It tilted, and Pyrrha saw an open hangar door come into view. She crashed into it, then rolled to a stop. Ruby let her go, and Pyrrha struggled weakly to her feet, leaning against the wall. On the other side of the small interior, Ren was laying Pyrrha into a chair, pressing his hand against her side.

_Thump._

Pain tore through Pyrrha's body.

"Jaune," She gasped, her back sliding down the wall of the airship. She saw him turn to look at her from where he was kneeling next to Nora, and a moment later he was standing over her, one of his hands clasped against hers. Her heart beat, and Pyrrha groaned as the molten pain flared up through her body again. She almost wanted her heart to stop beating so that the pulsing fire would stop.

"Pyrrha? Are you alright?" He asked, but his voice didn't seem to be moving with his lips.

_Thump._

Her heart beat again, and this time, the heat was merely scalding. Relief passed through her mind, before another thought grabbed hold. She tried to focus on Jaune, his deep sea blue eyes, his hand calmly stroking her own. None of it felt real though. She worked to push that thought to the back of her mind, not allowing herself to think about it given the ramifications it would have. She desperately clutched at the hand entwined with her own, and she felt him give a reassuring squeeze. Her hand felt numb though, and despite Pyrrha being aware of the pressure, she hardly felt it. The thought shot through her mind once more, demanding to be acknowledge.

Pyrrha had never thought about dying before. She had never pondered how she would die, that was a dangerous road to tread, but this could very well be it. Her vision blurred, but she forced herself to focus again, looking at Jaune. She wanted to live, for him, for her friends, and though it was selfish, for herself. She didn't want to die here. Not now. Not yet.

_Thump._

The pain was almost non-existent now, or at least, Pyrrha could hardly feel it. She was afraid of what that might mean, the numbness spreading through her limbs and calming her mind. It brought a certain clarity though, removing the pain and allowing her thoughts to flow freely. One thing became espescially evident. If she was going to die, there was one thing she wanted to say first.

She spoke softly, her lips trying to form words, but she couldn't make them act how she wanted. Jaune leaned in closer, and Pyrrha tried to speak again, worry clutching at her chest. Her vision flickered, and she closed her eyes, focusing. She opened them, determination flaring up inside her. She needed him to know before she went. She had never told him for four years, but she wanted him to know.

"Jaune..." Was all she managed to gasp, trying to convey in that one syllable everything she had ever felt for him. All the pain, all the shared experiences, the friendship and everything else that she had felt which could ill be put into words.

Above her, Jaune's face blurred, his pale skin seeping together with his blue eyes. She saw his mouth moving, but she couldn't hear anything. He leaned her backwards, but Pyrrha couldn't feel the metal grating against her back. Her eyes drifted from Jaune to the metallic roof above her as darkness rimmed the edges of her sight. The black spread, narrowing her vision until it consumed her, and Pyrrha went limp. 

/ 

Pyrrha's body relaxed in his arms as Jaune looked down at her delicate features.

"Pyrrha!" He yelled desperately. "Come on!" He cupped her face, willing her eyes to open. He stuck two of his fingers onto her neck just below her chin, closing his eyes and desperately hoping.

There. He felt it. A pulse. It was weak and faint, but it was definitely there. He stood from next to her and threw open the glass hatch that separated the cockpit from the cargo hold.

"You'd better fly fast." He growled to the pilot. There was no way Jaune was going to lose his partner. He threw a glance over his shoulder to where Nora was slumped against a chair with Ren holding her. He wasn't going to lose either of them. "Get us to Beacon. Now."

/

**...**

**Well, that was an interesting chapter. I'll be honest, I felt tense writing it, but it was one of those chapters that just starts to run away with you as you write. It was fun, and I'm really starting to enjoy this story. In other news, I'm noticing that I'm falling back into the trend of writing from Pyrrha's, Jaune's or Blake's perspective. This story is going to involve arcs for all of the characters, so I'm going to try and force myself to write from different perspectives. This is where I'm going to ask for your help! Let me know which character(s)'s perspective you want to see in the next few chapters. I'm looking forward to exploring writing with all of them, but I also want you guys to enjoy it. So let me know! As always, comments, criticisms, ideas and thoughts are always welcome and encouraged. **

**Finally, I just want to give my own personal tribute to Monty. Without going too much into my personal life, I've always struggled with two aspects of my personality; the side of me that yearns to break free and be creative to express how I feel and think, and the side of me that has been encouraged to calm down, sit, study and get good marks. Line myself up for a good job. On my own, I never really had the courage to start expressing myself, and Rooster Teeth has been a big part of my life. I don't know why, but all the people there seem so normal and relatable, and them having made RvB made my dreams of being able to write and draw seem so much more realistic and concrete. Even though I was just your average guy, I hoped that maybe someday I would make something of my own. I started brushing off those dusty old ideas I had stowed away in the back corners of my brain, and I let myself think again. **

**And then they announced the release of RWBY. I watched the trailers, and I was amazed, even in the Red trailer with very little sound fx or voicing, how incredible the world was. It filled me with an inspiration the likes of which I've never really felt before. After watching the first season, I was mesmerized. Seeing what Monty had created was awing, breathtaking. Monty helped us get absorbed into the world of RvB with his stunning action sequences and formidable animation skills, but then he created his own world. RWBY became a colourful, vibrant reality that he brought to life. What had once been an idea inside his mind was now real, and he shared this world with us all. It is testament to his will, creativity and dedication that he was able to do this, and it brought joy to countless people around the world. **

**I was never blessed with the opportunity to meet Monty Oum, and I suppose the way that he's touched my life and many others is a testament to how expansive his reach has been in this life. He's brought wonder and happiness into my life through his work, and with it came the inspiration I needed to break out of my shell. I don't know if I ever would have started writing and drawing again if it weren't for Monty's work. I hope that someday I'll be able to touch lives the way Monty has. No, I never knew him, but I'll do my part to carry Monty's torch of creativity and wonder. You will be missed, but you will never truly die. You've bettered the lives of too many.**


	9. Aftermath

The metal pressing into Nora's back jostled her as they hit another bump of turbulence. Pain flashed up from her stomach, and she let out a silent cry. Suddenly Ren was in front of her, speaking words, but Nora couldn't follow them. It was all a mashup of scattered sounds to her. She looked down at her arm, clutched tightly against the hole that punched through her stomach. She shut her eyes tight again as she saw the blood smeared over her arm, making it slick. She was having difficulties keeping it pressed against the wound as the plane jostled and slid her arm around. She knew the haste was necessary, but it hurt. Her body was going cold, and Nora felt unconsciousness pulling at her mind, urging her to go to sleep.

"Ren?" She whispered to her lifelong friend. They had only recently become partners at Beacon, but they had been partners in their lives for much longer. The lilac eyed man knelt in front of her, looking into her eyes.

"Yes?" He asked, never one to speak much. That's what made them perfect together. _Well not together, together._ She thought longingly. Anyways, they were perfect because he was so reserved and silent, while she carried more than enough energy and impulsiveness for the both of them. She looked at him and smiled even as the fatigue began to take hold of her waking eyes, dragging them shut.

"I know you're going to wake me up." She said with absolute certainty. She did know it. She wasn't doing any good staying awake right now, bleeding away. It hurt, it was boring, and sleep would feel wonderful. Ren wouldn't let her stay asleep. He would wake her up. She knew it. She closed her eyes, letting her mind start to slip.

"Of course," Was the last thing she heard him say. Warmth began to pass into Nora's hands from where they were connecting with Ren's. It was pleasant, and despite the cold pressing in on her from every other part of her body, Nora stopped shivering, savouring the contact. A smile passed over her lips as she slipped into the waiting oblivion.

/

The world whirled around her as Nora's eyes slid open once more. She was not entirely sure where she was. She was sitting down, and her side hurt. It hurt a lot. She looked down and saw blood. She felt something on her hand, and she looked down to see a hand holding her own, stroking the back of it gently. The world was cold, but that hand was warm, staving off the ice that was growing ever closer to her heart. She did not have to look beside her to know who it was, and despite the fear she felt at seeing what must have been her own blood, she was reassured. She squeezed the hand lightly, then the world slipped away once more.

/

"-Need two medical squads on hold for us when we arrive."

There was a loud popping of static coming from somewhere around Nora, but she did not have the strength to open her eyes to see who it might be that was talking. There was a muffled voice that came through the radio, but Nora's mind couldn't bother to make sense of the garbled sounds.

"Jaune Arc, student, Beacon Academy, team JNPR. J-N-P-R. This is not a request,"

_Jaune_. She knew Jaune. He was her leader, and if anyone was going to be able to save her life, she knew it was him. Over the past years, team JNPR had become like a family to her. It used to be just her and Ren in her little family, but now the rest of her team was a part of her family. She would do anything for any of them, and she knew they would do the same. She didn't know why she was thinking about this though, and the darkness called to her once more, so Nora went back to sleep.

/

There were a lot of people in white outfits over her, looking down at her. Something pressed into her side, and Nora let out a gasp of pain. It should have come out as a yell or a scream, but all she could manage right now was a gasp. A shot of warmth flowed through her system, numbing the pain, and Nora relaxed slightly.

"-Need stitches. Tell them we're coming in hot."

Two people were by her head, wearing blue masks and white coats and white rubber gloves.

"Get me some bandag-"

"-Clot that wound and-"

"-Why isn't her aura-"

"-Should tell me what happened so we can-"

"-Make sure they're ready the second we-"

Her mind switched from one voice to the next, but she couldn't follow any one person's speech for more than an instant. She could not make sense of what was happening around her, but there was someone holding her hand, and she held onto that hand as though it was the last thing grounding her to the world. She was grateful for that hand, and she smiled. She did not need to open her eyes to know who was on the other end of her hand. They were always together, and he wouldn't leave her now. He had promised to wake her up when this was all over.

/

Ren sat stoically in his chair. He knew that if Nora were to see him right now, she would make fun of him for being too uptight. Either that or she would ask if there was any food, or sweets, or syrup, or coffee... Ren smiled lightly as the thoughts ran through his mind. There was a time where his thoughts had been perfectly ordered, but now, after having spent so much of his life with the girl that was laying down, unconscious, in front of him, he found that the way he looked at life had changed. His thoughts would sometimes run away from him, and where before he had felt very little fluctuation in his emotions, now he occasionally felt his heart lifting in happiness or fear gripping its icy talons around his throat, making it hard to breathe. Life wasn't as straightforward as it had always appeared before. There was just a little bit of chaos, and Nora was always sure to bring it crashing into Ren's life. She did it in so many more ways than she knew, and Ren chastised himself for having taken it for granted. She had always been there for him, and as far as Ren's life was concerned, Nora had always been, was, and would always be, a part of it.

Incidentally, there was food on the table next to her bed right now. While Nora had been in surgery, Ren had been unable to stop his mind from turning over itself again and again, thinking of his energetic partner. He had noticed that he was thinking about her more and more lately, but this time it had been thoughts of fear rather than the usual companionship that clouded his mind. The absolute panic that had gripped his mind as they had raced through that outpost had been icy, cold and horrifying. Even as they landed in the dust plane and had taken off at a breakneck pace to get to Beacon, Ren had been unable to calm his thoughts. When the medical staff took her into surgery, he had still been unsettled. There was nothing more he could have done of course; he had almost killed himself transferring his aura into her body to keep her from fading away. On more than one occasion as they had flown towards Beacon, dark spots had clouded his vision, but Ren had continued holding Nora's hand, giving her his life force. He would have to be careful never to let the others know how close he had come to allowing the last sparks of his aura to leave him. Ren had been more than willing to die to protect Nora, but he knew she would be more than a little upset with him if she ever knew what he had done. Once she had been taken into surgery, Ren had been so close to running out of aura that his head felt light and the tips of his extremities were numb, but his thoughts had still been scattered, unorganized and full of worry. So, while the medics did their best to heal the girl that had been his partner for years, Ren had set his mind on cooking.

He had always enjoyed cooking. It involved precise measurements, exact steps, tried and true methods, and above all, it involved order. With all the chaos he had experienced the past few days; nights keeping watch with Nora, making his heart beat rapidly, the adrenaline fuelled frantic fight with the Deathstalker, the escape and the flight back. It had all been so chaotic. Ren was more than happy to put a little bit of order back into his life. He hadn't merely cooked for his own peace of mind though, there was someone he was thinking about as he measured and mixed. He had made up a large stack of pancakes, and they were now resting with a miniature pitcher of syrup on the table next to Nora's bed.

She looked peaceful right now. Nora's face was relaxed, her lips turned up slightly in the permanent smile that had been developed over years of continuous excitement. He noticed that lately he had been enjoying it more when she smiled, his own lips curling unconsciously at her joy. He had no idea why, but the world just seemed to be a better place when Nora was happy. Maybe it was just that she would constantly pester him if the world wasn't just right, but Ren was not so sure. He felt that maybe it was something more. Maybe that was the something more that had compelled him to stay here, next to Nora, his hands resting passively on his lap, perfectly neutral in spite of the occasional shots of irrational panic that swept through his mind. Ozpin had asked for them all to meet with him in his clockwork office while Pyrrha and Nora were in surgery, but Ren had been reluctant to leave. Jaune had noticed his brother in arms' plight, and had ordered him to stay by Nora's side.

Ren would never be able to express his gratitude to his leader. He knew that Jaune wanted to be next to Pyrrha just as badly as he wanted to be here next to Nora; nonetheless, Jaune had volunteered to talk to Ozpin as the sole representative of JNPR.

So Ren sat, as he had for the past few hours, an arms length away from the loving, energetic, caring, optimistic orange haired girl that was his partner. He sat, waiting patiently, until Nora would wake up, because he had promised he would be there for her when she woke up, and Ren would never break a promise with her.

/

Jaune made his way up the two steps, trudging up the one-hundred-and-fiftieth flight. There was an elevator of course. team RWBY had used it, but Jaune had taken the stairs. The burning in his legs reflected the burning in his heart, and it seemed fitting to Jaune that his body should feel as anguished as his mind. While he was making his way up the staircase, somewhere, far below, Pyrrha was being attended to by Beacon's medical staff. He was sickened that he was not waiting for her, standing next to her, being there for her. She was his partner, and it felt wrong to leave her.

It was necessary though. Of course it was. Nora had only been released from surgery a few minutes prior to Ozpin's summon, and Ren was at this moment sitting next to her. _The way I should be sitting next to Pyrrha._ Jaune scolded himself venomously. He shook the thought away though. Ren should be next to Nora now, as he waited for her to wake up. Someone from their team needed to be debriefed, and Jaune was the team leader. It was his duty to take care of his team, and right now, he needed to make sure Ren was alright. Jaune knew that his friend would be mental anguish if he was forced to leave his partner's side right now, similar to what Jaune was feeling. He wouldn't have shown it of course, but Jaune knew Ren well enough to know that when it came to Nora, the boy could become panic and distressed. He worried for her a lot, even though he never broke his impassive composure.

Jaune threw open the heavy door that lead into Ozpin's office. He stepped through the threshold to see team RWBY along with the headmaster waiting patiently for him. None of them made a comment though, and Jaune was thankful for that. It was night, so the large glass wall opposite them looked out into the stars. There were a few constellations out there that Jaune recognized from his childhood. He had used to love the stars, and would spend hours staring at them burning brightly against the darkness that seemed to conspire to envelop them the second they flickered. The bright little lights never flickered though, twinkle sometimes, but they would keep burning brightly. Those same constellations that he had seen so long ago shone perfectly normally, untouched by the events below. Jaune marvelled at how his life had been sundered in an instant as Pyrrha collapsed on that airship and yet those stars burned on, unchanging, exactly the same as they had been the day he had been born. Probably the same as they had been when Beacon had been made.

"Good evening everyone." Ozpin greeted, his voice lacking the normal hint of humour that Jaune had gotten accustomed to over the years.

"Headmaster," He replied politely. He did not want to be there, but it was his job to be there. There was no reason to be rude or unprofessional right now, no matter how irritable a mood he was in.

"Hey Ozzy," Ruby answered teasingly, but her voice sounded too serious.

"I won't waste your time," Ozpin said, leaning his elbows onto the desk and pressing the tips of his fingers together. "And I am sorry to call you here now, but we must speak now. Please, walk me through your mission. Every last detail is relevant." The silver haired man requested.

Ruby began recounting the events of the past week. She told Ozpin about their drop into the forest and the multiple Grimm encounters. Ozpin's face remained impassive even as she told him of the Goliath charging through their campsite, chasing after that dust plane. His face didn't change as she told him about the massive pack of Beowolves, and he listened attentively as she told them about the seething mass of Grimm surrounding the outpost.

"When we landed though, the scouting outpost was... Occupied." Ruby said a little hesitantly. Ozpin raised an eyebrow, and Ruby continued. "The White Fang was there. And Mercury and Emerald, but they weren't fighting the White Fang. Then Torchwick walked in with Bubble Gum hair."

"Neo," Blake corrected.

"Right. They attacked us, but then Torchwick's cohort teleported and brought back a bunch of Atlesian Knights. They had us at gunpoint, and we got taken prisoner." Ozpin raised a hand at that comment, indicating he wanted to interject.

"Atlesian Knights? You're sure?"

"Nah, we just saw a bunch of droids with guns pointed at us and are actually completely mistaken about how they look." Yang said sarcastically, folding her arms over her chest and cocking her hips.

"My apologies, I did not mean to question your skills of observation. I was merely concerned. If Torchwick and the White Fang have Atlesian droids working for them-"

"It means they've found a way to reprogram the military tech." Jaune finished, his brow creasing.

"Precisely. Troubling news to be sure. I am also sorry to hear about your friends, Emerald and Mercury. Please, continue Ruby."

"Well, they lead us underground. They've got a big operation going underneath that outpost. I think all that dust he stole in first year was there along with a bunch of Paladins, Knights and a _lot_ of Grimm locked in cages." Ozpin's brow creased when he heard that.

"That's when Torchwick pulled out that phial of dust." Weiss recalled.

"Dust?" Ozpin inquired.

"Yeah," Jaune spoke up, recalling the small glass tube full of black powder. "But not like any I've seen or heard about before. It was black. I tried to get him to start blabbering about it, but before he got more than a few words edgewise, that woman interrupted him."

"Right, Cinder." Blake added, nodding at Jaune. "She stopped him from talking about the dust. Said something about not revealing all their secrets."

"I'm thinking that that dust was the same kind that was trailing behind that dust plane. It has to have something to do with how they've attracted the Grimm and kept them in captivity."

"It very well may be so," Ozpin said levelly. "But we should not be too hasty to jump to conclusions." Reprimanded, Jaune nodded.

"Well, after we met Cinder, Torchwick threw us into a pit with a really big Deathstalker." Ruby continued. "It wasn't really any bigger than other Deathstalkers, but it was fast. It had streaks of black crystal or glass or something running down its back, and it moved way faster than any other Grimm I've seen."

"Tajitus are renowned for their speed, but this Deathstalker was moving faster than even the fastest amongst those." Blake cut in. "It should not have been able to move like that."

"That's when Nora got hit." Yang added. "She was about to cave its head in, but it stuck her with its stinger."

"Jaune hatched a plan, and we got the Deathstalker to bust the door into the pit open for us, and ran." Ruby started up once more. "We had to fight our way out. We didn't have time to grab any of the dust or anything, we just had to go. We rendezvoused with the dust plane, then got back here as quickly as possible." Ozpin let out a slight hmm as she spoke.

"And what of Miss Nikos?" He inquired, his deep hazel eyes turning to Jaune.

"When we started the fight with the Deathstalker, she was fine. After a while though she stopped using her sword arm, and when she would throw her shield it wouldn't come back to her like it normally does." Jaune said, closing his eyes and trying to remember what had happened before her collapse. "I think her semblance was failing. When we were escaping, she couldn't move her shoulder at all, and she was in a lot of pain. A few Knights tried to shoot us, and her aura didn't stop the bullets. Her legs got pretty scraped up. Once we got onto the plane she just-" Jaune cut himself off, not trusting his voice. Thinking about how his partner had called to him as she fell to the ground, how his heart had stopped for a moment when she fell unconscious, how he had to hold her helplessly, how he was unable to do anything. He had tried to force his aura into her to heal her, but it had not responded. It was like she was dead, and Jaune's mind had frozen in pure, unshakeable fear as he thought Pyrrha, his partner, the woman he had become so close with over the past four years, had died. His heart had leapt in his chest as he felt her pulse, but even now, back at Beacon, there was a part of his mind that could not shake that impenetrable fear, that cloud of despair that was threatening to overwhelm him.

"Any thought what may have caused this?" Ozpin asked the group, and Jaune thought back to when they were below the ground in the scouting tower. There _had _to be something, he must be forgetting something. She had never been hit in the shoulder by the Deathstalker's stinger, nor had Torchwick gone anywhere near her, but that woman...

"Cinder." Jaune said firmly, his eyes shooting open in realization. He did not know how she had hurt Pyrrha, but the fiery woman had taken a keen interest in her.

"You think this woman did something to your partner?"

"I'm sure. It's the only thing that makes sense, but I don't know how."

"When Cinder was talking to Pyrrha," Blake interjected, "I saw something in her hand. It caught the light like a small shard of glass or a needle. Whatever it was could have been poisoned."

Jaune's heart began to beat faster. If Pyrrha was poisoned, there was a chance she would not wake up. He put his arms behind his back and clenched his fists, trying not to show the fear coursing through his veins. Ozpin leaned back in his chair, bringing his large tablet scroll up in front of him and typing something into it. A moment later, he folded back together and laid it back down on his desk.

"Mr. Arc, the surgeons are aware of the potential plight of Pyrrha's situation."

"Thank you, sir." The headmaster's words had done nothing to alleviate the pressure on his chest though, and Jaune had to clench his fists even harder to control himself. He felt something warm slide over his fingers, but he ignored it.

"Now, I think I've heard all that I can. I congratulate you all on acting with bravery and resourcefulness in such an extreme and dire situation. You acted like true huntsmen and huntresses, and you should take pride in that. You are dismissed, students."

Jaune immediately turned on his heel and walked out the door to the elevator. It opened immediately, and he stepped inside, pressing the close button before team RWBY could get to the elevator. Yang was about to step forward and stop the door, but Ruby grabbed her sister's arm. Jaune looked at her thankfully as the doors slid shut, and she smiled back in understanding. It wasn't that Jaune did not want to be around team RWBY, but his partner was in danger right now. So long as Pyrrha's life hung in the balance, his mind could not be preoccupied by any other thoughts. The metal doors slid open,and Jaune dashed out of them. He ran through the pathways of Beacon, his pulse hammering forth from his chest and his breaths sharp and burdened. By the time he reached the medical wing, his legs were numb, but he did not care. He threw the door open and jogged inside quickly.

"Pyrrha Nikos?" He questioned the nurse at the front desk. She consulted a sheet in front of her.

"Room 209. Her vitals are stable, but she's unconscious." Jaune wasn't listening anymore though, already jogging through the sleek white walls. He dashed up a set of stairs to reach the second story, then walked into the fifth door on the left.

She was lying peacefully on the bed, sheets drawn up over her chest. Her head rested comfortably on a pillow, and her scarlet hair was neatly tucked under her body. He walked up beside her, his hand unconsciously brushing against hers. He looked at her soft features and her smooth ivory skin. She was perfectly still, and Jaune could feel the fear pressing against his consciousness, making him want to shout at the world and despair. There was a strand of hair that was hanging over her cheek, and he felt compelled to tuck it neatly away. He gently pushed his hand against the softly curled scarlet, carefully sweeping it behind her ear. He traced her cheekbone back and cupped her face.

Pyrrha stirred slightly in her sleep, her soft cheek pressing against his palm gently. Jaune's chest leapt in hope, and Pyrrha's face seemed to smile slightly. He thought that maybe she would wake up, but a moment later she relaxed again, and her green tinted eyelids never flickered once. There was a stool by the bedside table, and Jaune hooked his foot behind one of its legs, pulling it up next to the bed. He sat down on the hard metal, but he didn't mind the discomfort. He let his hand drift from Pyrrha's face to her hand, and he clasped it tenderly. He had left her to talk to Ozpin, but he was not going to leave again until she woke up.

Hours ticked by on the loud clock hanging over her bed, and the machines attached to Pyrrha continued to beep, but Jaune did not move an inch. He sat next to his partner, calmly, but fearfully, until the time when she would wake up. He would wait until the end of the world if he had to, but he would be there when she woke up. It was his responsibility as her leader, her partner and her friend to stay by her side, and he would not shirk that solemn duty.

/

**Hello there again! So this chapter was mostly about establishing the relationships between a few characters (Nora and Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha). It's not my favourite thing to write, but its necessary I feel to have chapters like this, especially when the characters have been through such an extreme event. It wouldn't do just to have the characters either bounce right to their feet again or die right away (if that's going to happen...). So its a bit slower, but necessary. Don't fret though, the action will pick up again quickly! **

**Concerning pairings: there have been some questions and suggestions here. I think I've done a decent job of laying out where everything lies at the start of the story. As of now, Weiss and Neptune have an unofficial fling, Blake and Sun have a very close relationship, Arkos of course, and then Ren and Nora (but they have some development left to do). This, however, is only where things sit for now. I'll say this much, Blake, Yang and Weiss are going to have very complicated love lives before this is all over :D**

**Other than that, thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying the story. I like Ren as a character, and though he was not as composed as I would normally write him in this chapter (given that Nora's been injured), so I think I'm going to try to add some of his POV's in the future. Until the whole Pyrrha/Nora business is sorted out, we'll see a lot of him and Jaune (this should only be another chapter or so). I have an important plot point planned for Yang soon, and other than that, we can look forward to some Ruby as well in the near future! Once again, thanks for reading. Any comments, reviews, ideas or questions are greatly appreciated! They help me evaluate the story and where its headed and what I can do to help you guys enjoy the story more. One thing I would request is that if anyone knows how to do those line divisions between character POV's, could you please PM me? I really need to figure that one out... :S**


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